Incorporeal
by Anis5240
Summary: One wished to gain happiness; the other wanted to find a purpose in life. Two unlikely spirits found themselves together in a world full of supernatural beings. (Post-DiU, spoilers for Dead Man's Questions)
1. Prologue

**Greetings! I have recently got into JJBA and who else would be my fave character if none other than Japanese David Bowie? (I like the others too but y'all know what I mean)**

**This fic centered on the aftermath of 'Dead Man's Questions', where our spiritual mercenary met someone important... (The POVs kinda alternate between 1st and 3rd; the former would mostly be Kira's)**

**In case you're wondering, the year setting of this fic is still 1999 (BIZARRE YEAR), starting in mid-September and approximately will end around the end of said year.**

I walked toward the main street, leaving the alleyway where **[The General's Mansion]** was. I winced as my injured legs took a step ahead and gritted my teeth at the sight of the terrible stump where my left arm used to be. Some trickles of ghostly blood stained the curb, but I cared nonetheless about it.

_Wonder if her arm will stick there_, I mused and kept walking, as well as being careful not to bump into other people.

As in living humans, that's what. Then again, there weren't many of them out right now since it was already nighttime, so I needed a place to bandage my wounds and rest for the day. Although I could reattach my missing arm, I didn't want to face those creatures again.

The **[Cleansers]**.They hunted spirits that were stuck in the world, and effectively removed them forever by turning those poor souls into something that resembled plants.

I shuddered as the unpleasant memory came to my mind, all the while lamenting the permanent loss of my left arm.

Being a **[Ghost]** was something I hadn't wished nor remembered wishing so. If anything, I barely knew who I was before my demise. I only knew my **[Name]**. And even though this was more akin to a gut feeling, I was certain that I cannot go to **[Heaven]**.

Doing somewhat dubious works for the monk wasn't my choice either; it was more toward thinking of a **[Purpose]** on why I was still here. She saw me wandering across town one day and I stared at her, wondering if she could see me.

(Of course she could since she was a "holy" woman, but I won't admit that. The fact she even knew I was around the temple where she stays in the first place was during the instances where I make my voice to be heard by humans.)

And before I knew it, I worked as a mercenary for her; hunting down criminals who had evaded the laws, and sometimes, those who had such strange beings beside them. Those kind of criminals were the most frustrating ones that I had encountered, but they were also fascinating.

Those strange beings had powers; ranging from mediocre to mind-blowing according to my observations. They were called **[Stands]**; made sense since those beings were always standing beside their **[User]** whenever they appeared. And it seemed that those criminals with **[Stands]** could see **[Ghosts]**.

Oh dear, it seemed I was so lost in my thoughts and had unknowingly reached a suburban neighborhood. I knew I was still in Morioh, though. I could leave the next day if I wanted to, but I should find a place to rest soon.

Besides, didn't I deserve a break after haphazardly endangering my **[Soul]** while investigating that mansion?

I sighed again at what was left of my arm. A handicapped hitman certainly would make killing criminals harder. I had kept the gun that I took from the general's painting in the mansion for safety reasons along with its bullets, though I doubted I need to use it again. Guns weren't exactly my preferred weapons, but it will have to do.

It was such a shame really; that mansion was the best I could hope for a shelter, secluded from main streets and far from troublesome humans. If it weren't for those **[Cleansers]**, I would consider staying there. At least there was some compensation from such incident.

This town was perfect for someone like me. It appeared that autumn was around the corner, and I smiled as I saw some brown and red maple leaves were being blown by the wind.

Truly a **[peaceful]** night this would be.

That was, until I saw a man running toward me.

* * *

He sighed as he peered into a two-storey house with light yellow walls and dark brown roof through the kitchen's window.

_It looked like they were asleep now_, he thought. After lingering for a while, he walked out from the house's compound and headed to his left.

_I will have to rest for the day_, he continued, both hands in his pants' pockets. _I have found a rather small home, but it will do._

That was when he saw a man ahead of him.

The man wore such eccentric clothes; a wide-brimmed bowler hat with concentric orange square patterns, followed with a green necktie of same designs and a dark suit. From what he saw from afar, the man was limping and clutching a box under his right arm. However, that wasn't what made his skin crawl.

The man didn't have his left forearm; the hems of his suit's sleeve was slashed as if the limb was torn out.

Frightened, he wondered what caused the man to be injured in such way. And as he had it, his gut couldn't help from feeling familiar with the scene.

And yet...

_And yet..._

"Mister, are you alright?"


	2. Strangers

**OK, so I took some creative liberty in this fic and also added some headcanons regarding the main character(s); be sure to check them here as you read!**

I raised my head when I heard the voice. The man was rushing toward me, but I wasn't sure. I glanced behind me and saw no one. Only the lampposts, which illuminated the curb with warm orange lights.

_Could he be talking to me?_ I wondered, the telltale of cold sweat began to appear on my face. _Is he a **[Stand User]**?_ I had always dealt with those who are criminals, so who might this man be?

As the man drew closer, I took note of his appearance.

He was...plain-looking; dressing in a white business suit along with a blue pinstripe shirt and a concentric circle-patterned necktie. Apart from his spiky black hair and high cheekbones, there was nothing remarkable about him.

If my instinct was right, he was basically about my size.

I silently frowned. I wondered why I noticed that, but that was for another time. Perhaps the information could even be useful in the future.

"Mister? Are you alright? What happened to your arm?"

I blinked. The man was already in front of me, keeping his distance from me but still glancing at my wound with furrowed brows.

So it was true that he spoke to me. But I couldn't sense the regular aura that **[Stand Users]** usually have from him. That, or he simply hadn't wished for me to know.

He was being careful. Good to know, for I also took the same route.

I looked at his eyes, and was somewhat stunned to see his irises was almost as dark as his pupils. They seemed to blend in so well, and gave him an advantage in maintaining an unreadable expression.

"It was from an accident," I decided to say and casted a downward glance; it was quite the truth after all. Those eyes of his, though, spoke otherwise.

"Well, would you like for me to treat your wound?" he started after a while, being nervous and curious at the same time. His voice was soft and deep, almost akin to the wind.

"That would be very helpful, thank you." I gave him a small smile in gratitude.

My smile turned into a grimace as soon as he reached out for my injured arm, while maintaining his gaze on me.

My instincts were telling me to move my arm away, since **[Ghosts]** have certain rules to be followed:

The most important one was to not let any human touch you, least you would be a intangible mess of body parts. Like a doll with separatable parts, except if you somewhat got your head chopped off, you might as well being dead for the second time. And you can't do anything about it until some kind person decided to help you. Even then, you will scream in _pain_ as he put you back to your body.

That is, _if_ he can see you in the first place.

(Even though you are already dead, you can't move your body around without the "brain", right? Yet you can still feel whatever your detached limbs touched.)

If you ask me, this whole **[Ghost]** thing was somewhat very fitting and confusing. Fitting since I don't wish to bother anyone and not being bothered in return; confusing as in the reason stated in the two paragraphs above.

And yet, my body stood still and my eyes widened as the man's hand inched closer to my injury. I had lost my forearm, so what could this man do when he touched me? Tearing the whole limb from my body?

But he told me that he wanted to fix my wound, right?

* * *

He wasn't sure what to make of the man with the bowler hat.

He was calm in one moment; the next he was almost flighty like a stray cat. _It was as if he was frightened for me to touch him_, he thought sympathetically.

_But that would be only because he's a **[Ghost]**, right? He responded to me; I can see him and he can see me, I think. At least that was what I gathered from the time we spoke.__After all, it was plausible to think he can only hear me._

He decided to break the ice by lowering his hand.

"It's...alright. You don't have to be skeptical of me.

"You see...I am a **[Ghost]** too. Kosaku Kawajiri's the name." He gave the man a wry smile.

The man looked at him in disbelief for a long while before finally answering, "Kira. Yoshikage Kira."

"Come, Kira-san. We can rest at a place I found recently. And also treating that wound of yours."

Kira gave no response; he simply heeded his words and followed him from behind.

_I hope you really _are_ Kira, for I have something to ask you._


	3. Introductions

**As stated before, 1st POV is reserved to Kira. However, I wanted to try doing one chapter in Kosaku's POV, so here you go!**

The walk to our destination was mere silence; only the sounds of our shoes making contact with the curb were echoing through the night. It suited us just fine, although I needed to make sure he was still with me.

Such alluring presence of tranquility in Morioh really make things relaxed. Sometimes, a bit too much.

"Do you need help?" I finally asked the man behind meme after a while, lowering my gaze to his wounded arm. I had offered to carry the box he had as we began our trip, but he turned it down politely. I assumed the items inside were pretty valuable, and didn't pry any further.

He shook his head, keeping his dark blue eyes downcast. His right hand was in his pants' pocket. His bowler hat was unmoved, even as the autumn wind blew, sending some leaves along our way.

He seemed to be deep in his thoughts. I mean, who wouldn't? Even though **[Ghosts]** roamed pretty much everywhere, we never really greet each other. We mostly minded our own business and stayed in the shadows, avoiding contact with the living. Of course this man, _Kira_ would be shocked too, seeing a fellow deadmate (Ha, what a pun) greeting him out of the blue.

(I was also surprised by my instinct-driven action earlier, but my gut feeling told me the whole scene of me seeing him was very familiar. I knew the reason of _why_ was it now, but it seemed that Kira-san took no notice.)

I didn't want to egg him, so I let the conversation dropped and staring ahead, leading him toward the empty house I found two weeks ago.

The house was rather hidden, what with the other stores and houses near it. But it was nice, a quaint two-storey home for about five people with light blue walls and dark red roofs. It seemed abandoned for a very long time when I first saw it. After some cleaning, I found out the items in said house were made of spirits. Specifically, they were **[Ghost Objects]**.

I had found a dusty record player inside the house's attic. It worked just fine, needed some oiling every now and then but there were no record discs for it to play. I had tried looking around for musical discs made of spirits in any abandoned houses nearby, though to no avail.

If anything, it saddened me that I could not listen to my record collection. They were still in my old home, but I couldn't enter it. Not without the current owner's permission, anyway. Even if I were to enter when they were gone, they would definitely notice that said collection had gone.

They knew the discs were getting more valuable as time passed, thus had hidden them. I knew the current location of the discs, but I chose to let them be.

For right now, the key to my **[Happiness]** had arrived.

I still had a hard time believing it, but **[Fate]** had played once again an important part in this encounter.

"We have arrived, Kira-san," I told my guest, who scanned the house for a while. As I opened the door for him so he could enter, he thanked me before going inside, not noticing the faintest smile on my face.

_Kira, I will need your help to reach my **[Happiness]**. In return, I will help you in whatever goal you have in mind.__I think this is the beginning of a new relationship._

* * *

Kosaku Kawajiri.

A rather uncommon name, but not standing out at the same time.

People had many reasons on giving names; of course they would since that was what they will be called for the rest of their lives. Some were made out of nicknames, while the rest went great lengths to have such outrageous ones that they failed to see the beauty in simple names.

My own name didn't have much deeper meaning as far as I concerned. "Yoshikage Kira"; simply meaning "Lucky Shadow" and "Killer". (Although "Kira" also had many different meanings; like "Sparkles" for example. That didn't even cover the word's varied spellings and meanings in other countries yet.)

However, sometimes I did mull over the meaning of my name, especially during my breaks from hunting down criminals in order to deduce parts of my previous life: _Was I a really lucky guy when I was alive? What about the "shadow" part? Did the monk know me from somewhere, since she didn't ask much when I first worked for her?_

(She never told me about that anyway, our relationship was strictly professional.)

But that was just my two cents regarding names. This Kosaku guy, he didn't seem to mind much about his name. He did raise his eyebrows when I told him mine, though I took it as an acknowledgement of the literal meaning.

I watched him closed the door of his (and my recently-newfound) shelter and put off his shoes before heading to the living room, beckoning me to follow him. He told me to have a seat and went to find some bandages.

I put the box full of unused bullets on the coffee table before glancing at the stump which was my left arm. Sure, I had lost a limb, but now I had a place to stay for the night to compensate the loss. Once again, my name's meaning came to my mind and I wondered if I had to sacrifice little things for a long-ranged goal. Like getting a shelter.

(Right now, I couldn't thank Kawajiri enough for giving me a place to rest.)

"Sorry for taking so long; I misplaced the first-aid kit."

Speak of the devil. "It's alright, Kawajiri-san. If anything, thank you for letting me stay for the night," I said with the same smile I gave him when we met.

Kosaku didn't smile back, though I saw his dark eyes twinkled a bit. He then lifted his gaze to my injury and carefully rolled the sleeve upward until the folded parts reached my shoulder and knelt opposite me.

He hid his grimace fairly well when he saw the extent of my wounded arm; he simply stared at the injury with no more expression other than widened eyes. (I must say, he was quite blunt in expressing himself. I truly appreciate that honesty.)

"Wh-what happened?" he asked, not out of fear but of curiosity and took out a roll of bandage from the first-aid kit, "Did a dog attack you?"

(I _was_ attacked by a dog about two weeks ago; I almost lost my leg, though.)

(Did he merely guess it or something? I still didn't drop the thought that he was a **[Stand User]**, but perhaps he _really_ wasn't one.)

"It was an attack from the **[Cleansers****]**," I informed and this time he stared at me in utter incredulity.

"**[Cleansers]**? What are those?" he questioned after a long silence. From his tone, I knew he actually meant it.

This was going to be a long night.


	4. Acquintances

**Back to Kira's POV as the start of the chapter, but I really enjoy doing 1st POVs right now (this actually started out as a practice writing in said POV), so any line breaks will alternate between Kira and Kosaku's POV.**

For a very long time, we held eye contact. Indigo met black, it seemed that we were frozen in time.

The question Kosaku asked me was still replaying in my mind: what are the **[Cleansers]**?

If it was normal circumstances, I would have said, "You didn't know them?" in a very subtle sarcastic tone.

But from his appearance, I could glean the fact he was simply an average man with average knowledge. Besides, he had given me a shelter. I should be grateful for that.

I supposed a bit of tolerance won't hurt. He did have to know about those creatures, even if the chance of him encountering them was almost null.

I decided to change the topic for the moment, "Why don't we wait until that wound was treated? I don't want to make you feeling uneasy with the details."

Kosaku blinked in puzzlement before nodding and took out an antiseptic bottle from the first-aid kit. He grabbed a handful of cotton and poured some of the liquid before dabbing my injury with it. I winced as the cold medicine touched my skin, but quickly steeled myself.

It was strange really, the fact that **[Ghost Objects]** could affect us spirits. It was almost as if we were alive again.

I continued to watch as Kosaku worked his treatment and began taking note of my left arm's state.

I had cut the limb just below my elbow, exposing my bones and I could see some shriveled veins under my skin. The blood had dried recently, and I no longer felt as much pain as it was a few hours ago. Though the memory of it being fed (or rather, being cleansed to nonexistent) to those cursed creatures made my eyes narrow in intense resolution.

I will destroy them.

All the while, Kosaku was deft with his handling of my injury. He had put a gauze pad on it and unwrapped the roll of bandage.

"Stay still," he spoke and held my arm in place. His right hand started wrapping the bandage around my wound and as he did his work, I noticed something very peculiar for even a ghost.

The fingerprints of his right hand were missing.

I frowned internally upon seeing the state of his hand. _How could that happen?_ I asked myself. _He must have died in a very bizarre way._

I wanted to ask him on how he died, but that was considered as taboo, even among **[Ghosts]**. Perhaps it could wait for another time; I didn't want to make him uncomfortable, for I was merely a guest.

(If I were to stay here any longer, I had to gain his trust. But would he want to trust me, a spiritual hitman?)

As for Kosaku, he was silent as when we first met. He simply repeated the process of bandaging my arm several times before he deemed it was enough and tied the cloth into a knot.

"Feeling better?" he asked, gazing again into my eyes.

I looked at the bandaged limb; he did quite an exceptional work there. The cloth wasn't too tight nor too loose for my liking. Was he a doctor in his previous life? He seemed very skilled, or at least knew the basics of treating wounds.

"Much better. Thank you again, Kawajiri-san." I really meant it. He didn't have to do it, for I was just some stranger. "However, if it wasn't troubling you, I hope you can treat my legs too. I apologize in advance," I lowered my voice as I said.

The black-haired only shook his head before folding the hems of my pants upward and took notice of the small bite marks on my ankles. Again, he applied the antiseptic liquid onto the wounds with such gentleness, like a father nursing the scraps of skin when his son told him he was hurt. Then he wrapped them with the bandages and tied the cloths, smoothing them all the while.

The actions he did seem to be naked honest in my eyes; I would like to know what was he thinking about this whole situation.

Of course, every deed done has another one incoming from the other end. I wondered what would my host want from me in return. I wouldn't mind much, as long as it wasn't too outlandish.

"Were you a doctor?" I finally asked to mask my curiosity on why he helped me.

Kosaku was wide-eyed for a fleeting second before he took the first-aid kit and began keeping the items he used inside the box in a robotic manner.

"Not really; I was just a normal office worker. I only started learning how to treat wounds recently, watching the doctors and nurses in nearby clinics," he told me, examining the bottle of antiseptic before placing it in its compartment, "I had helped some other Ghosts around here, though that was just to cover the cause of their deaths. I...wasn't very keen in seeing those."

Ah, that explained everything. Still, it was nice to know the reason of the whole ordeal.

He then closed the first-aid kit and got up, placing the white box beside the couch before sitting next to me. "I hope this isn't much of an intrusion, but I would like to know about those **[Cleansers]** you said earlier," he said, holding the nape of his neck and not meeting my gaze. "Those things must be terrible, tearing your arm like some beast."

Oh, if only you knew, Kosaku.

"Well, I suppose an explanation is in order," I mused. He really deserved it. A ghost but not knowing the other supernatural stuff? It was not acceptable in my book.

So I began telling him of myself, about my job and my investigation of **[The General's Mansion]**. Kosaku was mesmerized with my story, and was very surprised to know the mansion was in Morioh. He had wandered around the town for almost two months and he hadn't see it, not even once.

I guessed it was a good thing that he hadn't, because I doubted he would think straight when dealing with the **[Cleansers]**.

"So I had some of those eggs in my pocket while I explored the mansion when I heard some crackling," I told Kosaku, aware that it was getting close to midnight, "I thought it was the sound of the rain but it was rather too close for comfort and I suddenly felt dreadful. My left hand was throbbing all of a sudden and I slowly turned to see, watching in horror as my skin broke and _those creatures made way in my arm, turning me into some sort of a plant from inside..._"

Maybe I should stop, for the imagery of said scene made me very queasy.

Kosaku was no better himself; his face was contorted into pure terror and he was just moments away from passing out. I felt sorry for him, but it was for his own good.

For some unknown reason, I didn't want to lose him, especially to those damned **[Cleansers]**.

"So..." my host broke the deafening silence, "you really had lost that arm for good." He gave me a sympathizing look.

"It seems so," I glanced at my left arm wearily. "I needed to inform the monk that I can no longer work for her."

"But...what will you do after that? Didn't you say your mercenary job was your **[Purpose]**?" he asked, perplexed with my reasoning.

"Yes, but it wasn't as much important as the goal I currently have in mind."

"What was it, then?"

I turned to Kosaku, seeing his rather distraught face over me.

I never really trusted anyone, but for some reason, my gut feeling told me I can confide to him. That he could understand me, and vice versa. That we could relate to each other, and ultimately helped in reaching our respective goal.

"What I wanted the most right now..."

Kosaku kept his black eyes on me, giving me more reasons to trust him.

"...is to find my **[Memories****]**," I finished.


	5. For Our Ends

**The title of the chapter is actually a pun of "Friends" (and something else), and also concluded the 'Getting to Know You' arc!**

_"What I wanted the most right now...is to find my **[Memories]**._"

Kosaku Kawajiri was nonetheless shocked upon hearing the words from his guest for the night, Yoshikage Kira. His eyes were practically bulged from the eyesockets, and he felt awfully dreadful out of the blue.

'No... It can't be! _It can't be!!!_' he kept telling himself.

But the look Kira gave him was serious and stern (those indigo eyes, why did they had to be so _beautiful_?), and it slowly dawned to him that the blond was telling the truth.

Then, a thought clicked in his mind.

Something had happened to the man in front of him. Something terrible; that had caused Kira to lose his memories. And perhaps, the cause of it could be traced two months ago, starting at the time Kosaku had met his death.

* * *

Kosaku was a normal man (if being meek and quiet was considered as normal) during his life, but he was rather observant and naturally curious. When he died (he didn't remember _how_ as he woke up), he found out there was a different realm that also co-exist with the living world. To quench his curiosity, he had went to different places in Morioh and met numerous ghosts wandering along the way.

Some of them were old, staying nearby their homes and watched their living relatives from afar. Some of them were young adults to middle-aged, strolling around the lanes in order to find peace. And among them were women who had strange markings on their backs. Deep wounds carved upon their skin, which made him shiver in fear on...whatever _monster_ that did those marks upon the poor girls.

Just as he went back to his home (the house that he could barely pay the rent, thus causing his wife to always berate him for being so cowardly and such a pushover at work), he found out someone else had taken his place.

'_Who was it?'_ he had asked in distraught, fearing for his wife and son's safety as he went from window to window, trying to get inside but to no avail. '_Who had disguised as me?!'_

Suddenly, flashes of memories from his past life appeared, and he remembered seeing a man with blond hair and indigo eyes (eyes that captivated him in every way possible), who was bleeding profusely from head to toe and lost his left hand as he walked on the street, heading home from his work (a job that was as interesting as watching a grass grow, but he needed the job because he needed the money to pay the rent, even if barely).

He was stunned as the man dragged him (with such inhuman strength; how else could the man do so?) into a beauty salon (_Salon Cinderella_, a recently-opened beauty parlor, it said that true love can be found there.) and the moment they were inside, the man put off his clothes and ordered him to do the same.

That was when he saw the man's driver's license dropped from his lilac suit.

Yoshikage Kira was the name printed on the laminated card.

As the name came to his mind, Kosaku felt a sharp rush of pain on his abdomen. Startled, he took off his suit, tie and shirt, and was admonished upon the sight of a hole in his stomach, ghostly blood dripped from the gaping wound.

He was too shocked that he almost missed the commotion that happened inside the house until he heard his wife's voice: "Hey, cut your nails later! And didn't you cut them already last night?"

Stunned, he peered inside the house and saw his impostor - _Yoshikage Kira_ \- on the couch, holding a nail clipper with a bowling pin design. On the dining table were two plates of scrambled eggs and some sausages; his wife sat at one end and was about to indulge said meal.

(He didn't expect for his wife to take note of his behavior. Then again, their marriage wasn't the best, so she might as well noticed it out of boredom of their stagnant life.)

Kosaku froze when she took a bite skeptically (made sense because he had never really cooked, not in his life) and soon enough, began eating in earnest with a slight blush on her face.

He then shifted his gaze to Kira, who had stared at Shinobu with the same expressionless look he himself always sported.

Kira had no idea what he just did with such a simple gesture of cooking dinner to his wife.

At first Kosaku had felt angry, because _how dare the man did that to **his wife**_ (even though the woman did nothing but feeling disdain on him because he didn't give her the excitement she wanted in life _because_ she had gotten pregnant early), but the feeling dissipated into something else as soon as it came.

The feeling of admiration and adoration.

Kosaku Kawajiri admired Yoshikage Kira's attempts to get into his lifestyle without raising his family's suspicions, and adored on how easily he got Shinobu flustered with said attempts.

He had left the house about two hours later, fully dressed and with a mixed feeling tumbling inside him, he had slept under the tree near the house for the night.

When he woke up the next day, he once again heard a racket in the house; this time from his house's landlord, who was trying to get the payment for both last month and the current month's rents from his family.

(He flinched inwardly about his inability to save as much money as he could.)

Half-heartedly, he watched as Shinobu told his impostor about getting the money from the safe in their room (Kira didn't know the combination of the safe, so how would he pay the rent without raising the stakes of him getting found sooner? With his money?).

(But Kosaku had seen the man's wallet being disintegrated without any trace, so Kira must be a man with superpowers.)

(He wasn't wrong.)

He continued watching as Kira calmly walked down the stairs and headed toward the landlord, all the while thanking the man for coming so early to do his job and apologizing for being a bit short of money at the moment.

The landlord raised his eyebrows in confusion and Kosaku braced himself for the scolding that was about to come soon.

And it did. Except, something changed.

Kira merely stood in front of the landlord, much less batting an eye as the older man berated him. Kosaku was stunned to see such brave attempt from his impostor, but the question was still in the air: how would Kira escape the predicament?

And as luck would have it at that time (according to Kosaku, anyway), a purple aura gradually surrounded Kira and a figure about his size appeared beside the man.

It was a pink humanoid cat.

But the cat-human hybrid was visibly muscular, having four short spikes on its back and wore a black garter-belt, black studded gauntlets and ankle-heighted shoes with gold decorations (Upon closer inspections, Kosaku saw said emblems had cat skulls on them).

_'Was that his superpower?'_ he had wondered at the time. As if to answer his question, the figure went to the landlord's left side and even though he couldn't see what happened, he _did_ see the hybrid was now holding some thick wads of money and stealthily passed it to its summoner, Kira while evading the landlord's sight (and Shinobu's, since she really couldn't see anything apart from her "husband" was scolded by the man).

It dawned to Kosaku what was Kira planning in mind. Yet, he kept watching (now with wide eyes) as Kira produced the money as if it was his, asking if it was enough for last month, the current month and the _next two months_. And the landlord was being happy with such amount of cash (_poor guy really_, Kosaku had thought) and had left the house with a wide smile.

To say that Kosaku wasn't grateful by Kira's actions (even though it was just an attempt to save himself from being discovered) was downright degrading. Again, the combination of admiration and anger stirred deep inside him, and the hole in his torso twitched slightly upon the sensation.

Just then, he heard Shinobu saying, "Y-You... You must have stolen that money from the landlord. I don't know how you did it, but you stole it from his bag, didn't you?"

(Kosaku shot her a venomous look and gritted his teeth because _how dare you questioned him? He practically just saved your and Hayato's skins!_)

(At the same time, he saw Shinobu's face was blushing red and gripped the stairway as if to keep herself from falling.)

And yet, as his eyes fell unto Kira (_his **savior**_, he had thought, instead of the **_cause of his death_**), the man didn't answer. He simply turned to see Shinobu with his unreadable expression, staring at her as if she was trying to turn him in for lying about the rent before finally going to the kitchen.

(A thud suddenly echoed inside Kosaku when the exchange was over. _'Was...was it possible for a spirit to feel?'_ he had wondered, fingers ghosting over the place where his heart used to be.)

(Kosaku Kawajiri decided he was in love with Yoshikage Kira, right from the time the man had entered his family's life.)

And during the two weeks Kira stayed in his home, Kosaku continued to watch the man from the outside. He didn't care about the other ghosts' stares as he moved from window to window like a stalker; they all could go die really, as long as they didn't disturb him. After all, every **[Ghost]** has their own **[Purpose]**, right?

(After a few days, he deemed his family was safe even if Kira was somewhat a wanted man because the man would make sure there will be no suspicions on him. And Kosaku must admit, Kira's tactic of staying silent while others pointing out the traits he had when he was still alive was the best he could do. Probably the only thing that will work for the time being.)

Of course, everything must come to an end.

His son, Hayato was the one who made the rest of Kira's stay turned into crumble.

(Kosaku didn't hate his son; in fact he had blamed himself for not taking much interest on the boy when he was alive and thus caused him to live such a somber life, devoid of love from both parents. But why, _why_ would he investigate the inconsistencies that Kira did when the man was pretending to be him?!)

(As curious as Kosaku was, he mostly kept his discovery to himself; not wishing to bother anyone or anything he was curious about and not being bothered by them in return.)

Hayato's suspicions began after Kira saved Shinobu from a cat-plant hybrid with his humanoid cat (**[Killer Queen]** was what Kira called it, and personally, Kosaku thought Kira had good taste in music. The cat-plant hybrid was now called **[Stray Cat]**, and Kosaku almost laughed at how Kira defeated it, but all in all, it worked.).

He watched as Shinobu smiled sheepishly at his impostor, who was simply enjoying his breakfast in the kitchen. His eyes narrowed upon the sight of Hayato peering through the door, looking at Kira in suspicion.

Then, Shinobu went to the dining table and asked Kira if the meal was delicious before frowning. "Darling, you ate from my plate. I figured since you dislike shiitake mushroom, I have made a separate plate for you," she pointed out.

Kosaku froze in true horror. Yes, he really hated shiitake mushroom. But Kira had now made a terrible mistake. He knew both Shinobu and Hayato had tendencies to snoop into other's business, but between the two, he would prefer Shinobu being the only one who would find out, because she was carefree and never really had second thoughts on anything.

Hayato, however...not so much.

"But, I guessed I had made it really good then, wasn't it, dear? You pretty much gobbled it clean!" his wife continued earnestly as if to support his deduction.

"Y-Yes, that must be it," Kira said, meeting Shinobu's brown eyes with a wavering smile.

(Kosaku began to have a bad feeling, especially when he saw Hayato's eyes narrowed even more before leaving for summer school.)

Soon after, everything went downhill.

Hayato had found Stray Cat in the attic, knew that his dad wasn't really his dad, the fact that Kira killed people (especially women for their hands, though Kosaku didn't know the reason why) and was threatening Kira to not harm him and his mother when Kira lost his usually calm demeanor and had killed him in the bathtub with Killer Queen's controlled bomb.

(Kosaku was paralyzed with terror upon knowing the fact his son had died, but he really had it coming now, didn't he? _'Kira was just doing his own business, why would you get into his bad side?' _he had thought. _'He was being a better father than I was. Would you rather going back to the boring life we had, Hayato?'_)

Kosaku didn't pay much attention what happened afterward, for only one thing that was stuck in his mind:

On 16th July 1999, Yoshikage Kira was killed.

By an ambulance, nonetheless.

He had a premonition that the day was repeating somehow (did the concept of time even existed in the ghost realm?), but then the fight between Kira and his son (who was somewhat brought back to life and had allies in the form of the Morioh Warriors, who also had superpowers like Kira) happened and before he knew it, Kira was cornered into using his Killer Queen's final power, Bites the Dust by using a paramedic as the trigger.

(It was also at that time Kosaku knew why Kira had killed those women with strange marks he had found, but hey, everyone has their own quirks, right? Who are they to judge on whatever Kira did?! They sure as hell not knowing how the man was when he _wasn't_ killing!)

But then the ambulance came out of nowhere and had crushed Kira's head.

Kosaku's mind was filled with numbness upon the sight.

He hadn't gone to his house after that, knowing that those boys were comforting his wife and son (especially Hayato, but now Kosaku hated him because _are you happy now, that you get to go back to your dull life?_).

As for Shinobu, his heart broke whenever his eyes fell unto her. Not because she missed her husband or the man who had impersonated as him (she didn't even know that and Kosaku surely didn't mind much if he wasn't being missed by his family), but because of her tears.

He hated it whenever she cried to sleep after the revelation, because as far as he knew her, she was joyful up until their wedding. Then she was being moody 24/7 for almost twelve years but she hadn't cried, not even once.

He had a new goal in mind following the incident; a goal that he was going to make sure that his family (or at least Shinobu) get the closure they deserved.

He wanted them (only Shinobu, he _insisted_ because she did nothing in the Kosaku-Kira situation; Hayato was the one who ruined it) to gain **[Happiness]** again.

But that would be impossible now, right? Because the man who made that possible in the first place had died.

And yet, here he was, sitting beside him in his humble abode.

* * *

"Kawajiri?" Kira spoke, his brows furrowed. Sure, he had said that he lost his memories but did Kosaku have to be so shocked that he didn't even respond?

"Kosaku?" he tried, getting exasperated in every second.

This time, the man's eyes were alarmed as they made eye contact, before he chuckled nervously. "Oh, I'm sorry, Kira-san. I was simply surprised to know that you are a **[Ghost]** without memories," he explained.

Because it was the truth; how could he lie, anyway? As far as he had watched Kira during the short stay in his house while hiding in the shadows, the man barely lied, even when he was masquerading as Kosaku. (Unless it was out of necessity, like the time with the landlord.)

Now it was Kira's turn to be confused. "You mean...there isn't any other **[Ghosts]** who lost their memories?" the blond asked, suddenly feeling dreadful.

If he was the only amnesiac ghost, then what had he done in his past life?! Something so horrible?

Kosaku noticed his guest was getting agitated, so he quickly came up with a diversion, "W-well, I can't be so sure about that. I mean, I am a **[Bounded Ghost]**, so..."

Both men stared at each other; one was full of suspicion while the other was sweating bullets, hoping that his explanation would be acceptable.

"I supposed you have a point, Kawajiri-san. I'm sorry for frightening you," Kira finally said while lowering the brim of his bowler hat with his only hand.

Kosaku internally sighed in relief. "No, it's alright. Anyway, it's getting late. Come, Kira-san; I will show your room." He then took the first-aid kit and waited as the blond took his box from the coffee table and beckoned the man to follow him upstairs.

"This is your room. If you are going somewhere for your job, you are always welcomed to stay here, as long as you wanted," he told his guest with a smile. He placed the white case on the table beside the bed and as the man entered the room with a nod, his eyes caught something.

There was a small emblem on both the back of Kira's hat and head.

A skull emblem.

"Sleep well, Kira-san," he momentarily said before closing the door and went to his room.

As he undressed himself, he looked at the ghost mirror placed on the wall and ran his fingers over the gaping hole in his abdomen.

He was telling the truth that he couldn't stand seeing blood or any injury, but for this one instance, he would let it slide.


	6. Wanderers

**Here's the first chapter of the 'Memories' arc! (Also known as 'All Dead, All Dead' considering our two MCs in this fic are ghosts ;3)**

**Edit: Apparently I had made a mistake as in the arc's order of events, so the investigation to Kira's home will come up next. But on the other hand, we got our fave fictional mangaka as replacement!**

I woke up to the soft chirping of birds outside and after waiting for about five minutes to adjust my sight, I gingerly sat up, being careful not to unwind the knots of bandages on my legs and glanced at my injured left arm, which were kindly nursed by my host, a fellow **[Ghost]** named Kosaku Kawajiri.

I was rather puzzled with his actions last night; him staring at me with a cautious look before retreating for the night. Could he be noticing the emblem at the back of my head? I usually paid the mark no much attention other than to emphasize the fact that I was a mercenary in this world.

Speaking of my job, I had failed rather miserably in yesterday's mission. The monk didn't seem to know there were **[Cleansers]** in the mansion; if I were to guess, she probably couldn't even see it considering they were supernatural creatures. Still, I made sure to complete every given task as soon as possible, and the failure caused me to improvise on how to completely destroy them.

All I had in person were a knife, a box of matches, a revolver and a box full of bullets for said gun.

The fact that only **[Ghost Objects]** could cause damage to those **[Cleansers]** and I first-handedly experienced that it was dangerous to deal with them within close range made me to find a way to safely finish my job without endangering myself.

Say, would a makeshift bomb work on them?

* * *

Kosaku opened his eyes with a frown upon hearing some strange clanks from the room next to his. He normally got up around 8 or 9 in the morning since he didn't have anything to be done for two weeks now (his son would be in school at the moment and his wife would be out searching for jobs, as he found out when he finally went back to visit them when summer ended).

Apparently his guest had woke up and was planning something for the day.

A man named Yoshikage Kira had stayed in his shelter for the night. He was also a **[Ghost]** who lost his memories.

Kosaku found it rather strange and fascinating that such **[Ghosts]** even existed. Then again, as he told Kira last night, he didn't know if there were any other amnesiac spirit, considering he was **[Bounded]** to Morioh.

He didn't mind being stuck in the town, even after living there for almost thirteen years. There was always something new to see everyday, and during the two months fleeting from his old house, he had walked around and found interesting sights along the way, like Angelo's Rock.

Curious on what the blond was doing, he took his outfit and got dressed, making sure to mask his cause of death well between layers of clothing as he adjusted them in front of the ghost mirror. After a while and feeling satisfied with his effort, he swung open the door and shuffled to the room where his guest stayed.

He stood in front of the room and was about to knock when he heard the man inside hissed impatiently, all the while grumbling, "Just open, already...! I don't have much time, lest he would wake up and asking what the hell was I doing!"

Yes, Kosaku was really wondering on what Kira did in the room. It seemed he had some difficulty in opening something.

Which, of course made sense since Kira had lost his left arm while escaping creatures called **[Cleansers]** that unknowingly lurked inside **[The General's Mansion]**, a place he himself had just known thanks to the hitman. As said by the blond, they could cleanse spirits who touched the eggs they hatched from, and being turned into plants alive (do ghosts still be considered as alive?) wasn't the way he wanted to leave the world.

"Kira-san?" he started uncertainly, hand already hovering by the doorknob, "Can I enter? You seem to need some help."

Immediately the noise inside the room ceased. Kosaku imagined Kira must be shocked that what he said moments ago was right.

For a long while, there was only silence.

"...Come in," Kira finally spoke with a defeated sigh.

Noticing the tone change of his guest's speech, Kosaku slowly turned the doorknob and opened the door.

Kira had took off his bowler hat and was casting a sullen look toward him when he stepped in; his indigo eyes were no longer twinkling as they were last night and his angular face was gaunt, showing his hollow cheekbones. Adding to the solemn vibe inside the room were the closed curtains by the window. In his only hand was a revolver and scattering across the floor near the bed were unused bullets.

If anything, the blond looked pitiful from Kosaku's perspective.

"Are you...trying to reload the gun?" he ventured. As if that wasn't obvious already. "What for?"

Kira took a deep breath before loosening his grip onto the revolver, causing it to fall onto the floor with a loud thud. "I needed to finish my job," he said, running his fingers over his short blond hair, "It drives me crazy to know it wasn't done."

Kosaku felt the same dread he had when Hayato first became suspicious on his impostor after Kira finished his reasoning. "B-But you said you have killed them! With that gun!" He pointed at the weapon lying near the man's feet.

"I only killed a few. There are still lots of those eggs inside the cabinet that I opened," the blue-eyed explained resentfully, "Besides, the monk told me around 56 people had committed suicide or died strange deaths around the mansion. I don't care about those people, if anything destroying those cursed things was now my revenge for taking my arm."

Kosaku mulled over on what his guest told him. It made sense that Kira would avenge for the loss of his arm considering from what he remembered, Yoshikage Kira was a man who would go to great lengths to get what he wanted or kept what he had when he was alive.

"So, what's your plan?" he asked gently and went to the blond's right side.

"I was thinking to make a makeshift bomb, since only **[Ghost Objects]** can kill them. But I bet there wasn't any gunpowder or dynamite in this house, right?" Kira mused, in which he answered with a nod. "The gun was for when things didn't go as expected."

As much as Kira wanted to kill the **[Cleansers]**, Kosaku feared for the man's safety. Here was the spirit of the one who made his family happy in the short time he stayed in his house, and now he was risking himself to some deadly supernatural creatures that could erase him in one touch.

Kosaku didn't want to lose him again, even if he was amnesiac. Call him selfish, but so did everyone else.

"We could try looking out for those items you wanted in other **[Ghost Houses]**," he offered half-heartedly, "I found a few around Morioh; with some luck you can get your job done soon." He noticed it would double as a trip across the town, and hoped the man will agree to it without question.

Kira looked at him in the eye, thinking about the offer. The whole **[Cleansers]** issue indeed had drove him mad to the point he could barely slept last night. Perhaps a walk will sharpen his mind to stage a better and well-versed plan.

He also noted the record player in the living room. If the plan was successful, he could save some records and books, allowing him to fill his breaks with leisure activities.

"Okay," he said, feeling slightly relieved on knowing what was to come in the next few weeks.

"Good," the raven-haired nodded and clasped both of his hands, slowly turned to look at him, "But not today."

(Kosaku almost snorted at the incredulous look on Kira's face.)

"And why was that?" Kira narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "Is it because of my arm? I will have you know that I'm more strong-willed than you think." He reflexively cradled his injury as if to hide it.

(Kosaku had witnessed first-hand on that determination, but Kira didn't need to know that.)

(Not yet, anyway.)

Kosaku took a deep breath before saying nonchalantly, "Yes. I know that we **[Ghosts]** can't actually feel pain, but unless you want to take risk on losing that arm forever, well, I'm not complaining."

That caught Kira's interest.

"...What?" Kosaku almost didn't catch the soft-spoken word of disbelief.

"**[****Ghosts]** can regenerate," he began, taking the first-aid kit he had placed next to Kira's bed last night, "Surely you know that, right? What with your job and all." He then opened the box, sorting the items inside.

The mercenary was silent, trying to process such information.

"...Not really," Kira spoke and scratched the back of his head, "I always did my job as efficient as possible, and never had lost my limbs as I am now. If humans made contact with me, I simply snatched the detached parts, reattaching them and waited until they healed before continuing in my way."

"That's the thing," Kosaku added, "We can also regenerate our lost body parts, though not the cause of our death. But you need to focus on regaining that part back and the process can be sped up with regular medical procedure."

"Say, how did you know about this?" the blond queried with furrowed brows, "I thought I was well-versed about the rules of this afterlife, but it seemed there are still lots to be learnt."

"Personal experience," was the answer. "You ready to clean up?"

* * *

I spent two weeks' worth of time at Kosaku's shelter. The man had helped me around the house and gave me some medical books he found in a nearby **[Ghost House]** to reduce my boredom of staying inside the shelter 24/7.

(For some reason, I'm not mad at him for coddling me like a young child; in fact I felt a strange sensation as he nursed my injuries every morning and night, a combination of mild irritation and longing filled my heart.)

(The skull emblem on the back of my head would throb a bit whenever I had the feeling, but it always amplified during my daily treatment. I decided to think on why was it later.)

(At least the books were interesting, and they had managed to distract me from thinking about the man for a while. Perhaps the reason said books was interesting in the first place was because of my job.)

Before I knew it, it was already October.

Both of my legs had healed completely, and I was ready to get my task done as soon as possible. But Kosaku had insisted for me to wait some more, wanting to see if there was any change on my left arm.

It took a long while before he finally relented to take me for a walk around Morioh.

I watched as Kosaku closed the door of our shelter before joining me for a visit to the town. It was getting close to noon, and there were lots of people filled the streets, each going to their respective destination. Some red and brown leaves floated in the air as the gentle wind blew, marking the arrival of autumn.

Of course there were also **[Ghosts]**, but I chose to ignore them. Both Kosaku and I simply nodded in acknowledgement when we made eye contact with fellow wandering spirits. It was better that way; I wasn't one to do small talks and so did my host.

Kosaku showed me some of Morioh's landmarks as we walked, and pointed out the attractions that made the town popular, like the calm seaside view and the beef tongue that was cooked in miso.

If there was any better way to describe Morioh, it was a sleepy town; neither too lively nor unlike a ghost town. But for some reason, I found Morioh to be so beautiful with its simplicity.

It felt like I had been here some time ago. But that would be impossible, right? I was a **[Ghost]** who didn't remember when or how I died. Yet, my heart somehow resonated with this **[quiet]**, **[peaceful]** town.

I kept my gaze unfazed while listening to Kosaku, who led the way as we traversed the downtown of Morioh.

I was strolling side by side with my host, keeping an eye for any supernatural presence. I only brought my knife as a self-defense move, but I doubted I had to do some killing right now.

My eyes fell onto the sight of a young man among the others on the street.

The man was quite a handsome lad, having an average build and height. He had his (probably dyed) dark green hair in the form of an undercut and was slicked sideways. His outfit comprised of a jagged headband, (possibly) gold pen nibs-shaped earrings, a medium-length red scarf, a black sweater, beige pants and dark brown boots.

He was having a blue satchel and carried a sketch book in his left hand.

'He must be an artist,' I thought wistfully with a faint smile.

I desired to spend my free time doing some leisure activities. How I wished to have a place where I could draw pictures of flowers and read without being blown by the wind. A place where I could listen to music without any interruptions or rumors about a ghost living there.

(I was aware that Kosaku had given me a shelter, but perhaps he had done out of pity. He would probably kick me out when my task was finally finished. But he didn't seem to mind about having me as a temporary roommate, being as quiet as I was.)

(I did notice he gazed longingly at the record player in the living room every now and then. I hoped he would tolerate my taste in music, for I preferred classical scores and compositions, like Wagner, Beethoven and Schubert.)

(If my plan was successful, I could give him some of the records I found inside **[The General's Mansion]** as a gift of gratitude before going off my way in search for another **[Ghost House]**.)

The eccentric-looking youth suddenly walked and my gaze trailed after him.

He was walking toward a **[Ghost]**, who was sitting under a street light, his cause of death was a crushed head and mangled body parts.

(The skull emblem on my head twitched slightly when the thought of getting one's head crushed under a speeding vehicle's tires crossed my mind.)

I continued watching as the man held his right hand out as if trying to reach out for the spirit.

'Could he see us **[Ghosts]**?' was my first and foremost thought upon realizing the scene. Instinctively, I grabbed Kosaku's right arm and without telling him anything, I made him witness what the young man was about to do to the spirit.

My eyes widened in fascination and horror as the **[Ghost]**'s face transformed into sheets of paper and flicked open with a single touch from the youth.


	7. Curiosity

**I hope Rohan isn't too OOC here :3**

**Also much thanks to the user Tempting Thots for the like and follow; here's to hope this chapter is up to your expectations!**

Kosaku's black eyes were wide in terror when Kira had pulled him to watch the scene unfold before them.

A young man had turned a fellow **[Ghost]**'s face into what would consider as 'human books' (or rather, 'spirit book' in the current case). Who then had dragged the unconscious spirit into an alleyway by using a medium-height white humanoid figure.

No one (including other spirits) seemed to notice the commotion apart from him and Kira.

But that wasn't what made Kosaku horrified.

It was because he knew the green-haired man.

Rohan Kishibe.

A well-known artist who did the manga _Pink Dark Boy_ (Kosaku didn't give a shit about it even though everyone said it was very engaging story-wise), and also one of the men who had played a role in Kira's demise.

Kosaku was considering to pull the amnesiac away from the scene and went off doing something else (like visiting his old home even though there was no one inside at the moment), but he had to do it in an inconspicuous way so that Kira wouldn't be suspicious of him.

'What to do, what to do?!' he silently panicked. At the same time, Kira had loosened his grip on Kosaku's arm and began taking steps to cross the road.

'No, no, _no_, **_no_**!! This isn't supposed to _happen_!!' Kosaku wanted to tear away his hair in frustration for letting the blond away from his sight for even a second.

Reflexively, he grabbed the hem of Kira's dark lapelless suit. The man stopped and turned to him curiously, wanting an explanation for said action.

"Uh..." Kosaku started in cold sweat, his heart was beating furiously in his chest. 'Calm down, Kosaku, calm _down_,' he told himself, 'He definitely won't buy this if you are panicked!'

After taking a few deep breaths, he cleared his throat, mustering little courage he had at the moment and said, "Kira-san, didn't you tell me we needed to find some materials for your bomb? I-I think this would be the perfect day to get it done!" He casted the hitman a nervous grin (which was undoubtedly an absolute horrible look on him; he had tried grinning before but his facial features made it impossible to look other than menacing).

He really had ruined it now, didn't he? Kira would be off hunting for that Rohan guy and possibly wouldn't even come back to their shared shelter, wandering the streets to discover more of Morioh's strange side.

Kira only blinked those indigo eyes of his in puzzlement and Kosaku had his knees knocked together as he waited in anticipation for the blond's answer.

"I supposed you're right," the man finally spoke, adjusting the brim of his bowler hat - Kosaku almost audibly sighed in intense _relief _and was about to usher the man _away _from that Rohan Kishibe and soon forgot about him altogether - "but it can wait for another day, right?"

Of course. Of. _Course_.

Kosaku knew Kira was relentless in pursuing whatever he currently had in mind, and he was damn sure that the _something_ playing in the mercenary's mind now was to investigate Rohan Kishibe and to know what the artist did to the poor spirit.

But would it be the right thing to do; to let him go? Perhaps Rohan Kishibe could help Yoshikage Kira in regaining his memories?

Doubt it.

But Kosaku had no other choices. If he coaxed Kira to go somewhere else, the man would be more skeptical of him and it would ruin whatever attempt Kosaku was going to do next: to ask for Kira's help.

So he had to play along for now. He didn't have to go straight to that Rohan; he would wait for Kira somewhere else while the hitman confronted the artist. And if something happened, well he could always grab him and get the hell out of there.

"You wanted to go after that guy, right, Kira-san?" Kosaku asked while massaging his forehead, sighing mentally and dreaded on what was to come next, "Yes, I suppose your bomb could wait. But on one condition: I'm following you because you know nothing of this town and I'm your tour guide. I will not disturb your conversation with him, but if he did something to you, then we will not coming here again. Deal?"

(He hated blackmailing people, especially those he had to ask for help afterwards. But in this case, he had to.)

Kira furrowed his eyebrows upon hearing the request. He wasn't that reliable; hell, he was an adult _and_ a hitman! Kosaku didn't have to follow him everywhere! He could take care of himself!

(The skull emblem throbbed a bit stronger as he felt the irritation running through his mind after the black-haired said those words.)

But he had owed Kosaku, right? The man had allowed him to stay in the **[Ghost House]** he had found and nursed his left arm, which was slowly but surely had begun the process to regenerate.

(Besides, he only had his knife as a means to protect himself right now, which was abysmal compared to the **[Stand]** the artist had. Who knows what powers could he have?)

With a sour look, he agreed.

As Kosaku led Kira to cross the street, he briefly wondered if he did the right thing.

Curiosity killed the cat, after all. And he wouldn't be surprised if said nature would kill the spirit, too.

* * *

(The Great) Rohan Kishibe was bored.

He had feared for this exact moment ever since he began drawing and creating stories for his ever-popular manga, _Pink Dark Boy_. And it took about four years since he had entered the manga industry and close to three years after he began his manga debut.

About eight months ago, he had moved to Morioh to continue his manga there. Five months ago, he had met Koichi Hirose, who was now his assistant. Close to four months since _Pink Dark Boy_ had its first month-long hiatus, thanks to Koichi's friend, Josuke Higashikata.

Three months-and-a-half since he and Koichi met the spirits of Reimi Sugimoto and her dog, Arnold, who had asked them to find her murderer that terrorized Morioh for fifteen years.

It had been almost three months since Yoshikage Kira was killed, both in life and spirit.

Rohan had found time had passed so quickly when he and the rest of Morioh Warriors had finally cornered the serial killer with the help of Hayato Kawajiri, the son of the man Kira had disguised as, Kosaku Kawajiri. After the accident involving Kira getting his head crushed by an ambulance, they had went to give their consolidations for the family.

The mother, Shinobu Kawajiri did not take the news well.

She had vehemently stated that her 'husband' wasn't a different man than the one she had known for almost twelve years that she didn't even notice the change. They then tried to convince her with the proofs they had and even Hayato pleaded her to believe them, but she had shoved the evidences away and forced them to get out of the house, telling them to never come again.

During the next visit, Jotaro Kujo, the man from The Speedwagon Foundation (and for some bizarre reasons, the nephew of Josuke) had given the Kawajiri family some money to accommodate their life until the end of the year. Again, she refused the help, and only relenting when he had said it was for Hayato's education.

Fast forward to the current time, Rohan had went to almost everywhere in Morioh, trying to find the same energy he had during the fight with Kira to incorporate it into _Pink Dark Boy_. Alas, with no more threats looming over the town, there was nothing much to look forward to.

Since Koichi, Josuke and Okuyasu had went back to school, and Jotaro had returned to America with his grandfather, Rohan had resorted to find inspirations for his manga's next chapters from spirits that roamed around Morioh. By using his **[Stand]**, 「Heaven's Door」, he had found some good ideas, but they weren't enough.

What he wanted the most was to capture reality.

The things he wanted in life was to seek new experiences or facts, investigating anything he might find interesting with blatant disregard for common sense, politeness or the law. He absolutely despised fake actions or mannerisms, thinking they were not genuine material for his work.

So per his daily activity as of lately, he had went downtown to find a **[Ghost]** in search for possible inspirations. It was noon, and he had found a suitable candidate; a spirit with a crushed head and mangled body parts.

(He almost cringed at the sight of the exposed skull and brain, and was reminded of Yoshikage Kira's death at the same time.)

So with no guilt, he summoned his **[Stand]** to disarm the spirit and dragged him into an alleyway in hopes to jot down some interesting events in the **[Ghost]**'s previous life.

Leaning the spirit's unconscious form against the wall of a building, he then crouched before the ghost and pulled out his trusty pen from his satchel.

He was about to write in his sketch pad when he heard a man's voice echoed around the alleyway, "What are you doing?"

(The Great) Rohan Kishibe froze at his place in horror.

He was caught.

He had _never_ been caught since starting the activity about two months ago.

'Who could be the one to have caught me red-handed in this situation?' he wondered in fear (and joy).

Terrified (and elated) for the sudden turn of events, he raised his head and was met with a peculiar sight.

Standing at his left side was a blond-haired man who donned a wide-brimmed bowler hat with concentric orange square patterns, followed with a green necktie of same designs and a dark lapelless suit.

'His outfit was quite eccentric, but not too outworldly,' was Rohan's first impression.

That was, until he noticed the man's left arm, which was missing.

'Now _that_ was interesting,' Rohan noted.

Apparently the man had noticed Rohan's gaze, narrowing his eyes and shifted his injured limb before crouching next to the **[Ghost]**.

"I asked you, what are you doing there?" the blond repeated in a rather monotonous tone but slightly irritated, pointing at the sketch pad on Rohan's lap with his gloved right hand, "You're going to take some informations from this guy here?" Rohan knew he meant the unconscious spirit.

"Y-Yes," Rohan found himself stutter as he answered the question.

(The Great) Rohan Kishibe had _never_ stuttered in his speech. He had always delivered his words in a confident (one would say arrogant) way, yet the stranger had managed to make him _afraid_ in the first few minutes they had met.

Only two persons had managed to achieve so; one was Josuke Higashikata (but only when the pompadour-haired was _mad_, as he had learnt it the hard way) and the other was Yoshikage Kira (simply by his appearance alone, but was amplified by the man's crimes).

(Oh, he was going to have LOTS of fun when he got home.)

Then it dawned to him: How could the man know there was a **[Ghost]** with him?

"Are you...a **[Ghost]** too?" he ventured, his eyes widened in curiosity. His pen had hovered onto his sketch pad; looked like the unconscious spirit he had chosen would have to go freely.

(He had a much more interesting subject here.)

The blond only gazed at him with his indigo eyes ('Such nice colors, and provided a pretty shade to his appearance,' Rohan had thought) for a while before saying, "I'm what people would consider as a spiritual detective."

Rohan blinked. He had heard some people had gone into that job profession, and scoffed at it until the day he had「Heaven's Door」. That, coupled with the investigation of Yoshikage Kira three months prior, made him wonder if he was certified to be one.

Though, he couldn't help from asking jokingly, "Did you mean that literally or figuratively?"

(Rohan began to feel the same feeling he had when he hired Koichi Hirose a job as his assistant, and was elated when the boy agreed enthusiastically.)

"Depends on which one you want to believe," was the reply and Rohan was immediately taken by the mysterious aura the blond had.

('This man here is such an exquisite subject of study,' he told himself. 'I must have him, and honor him in my latest chapter!')

"So how are you going to take the information you wanted from the guy?" the man asked, seemingly intrigued, "From his face?"

(Rohan didn't miss the look of disgust and morbid fascination on the man's face as he turned to his initial target, whose visage was still opened like a book. Literally.)

"Yes," the artist started, feeling slightly comfortable now that they had reached his familiar territory, "I collected whatever I deemed to be interesting and incorporate them in my stories. I used to take my inspirations from people, but someone had made me to stop doing it, so here I am."

"You know you should ask for their consent first," the man spoke after a moment of silence, staring at him with his catlike eyes (Upon closer look, Rohan realized the pupils of the man's eyes had the shape of skulls.).

(The Great) Rohan Kishibe was seeing red instantly.

"How dare you question me like that?!!" he exploded and stood up, "I take inspiring ideas from reality itself! Unlike other mangaka who had repeated the same formula and story over and over, I had chosen to make stories that are real!!! People and spirits alike should be grateful that their life stories had made it into my work! And you right here, was insulting my noble purpose of keeping their memories alive! Just who did you think you are to comment on my methods of research like that?!" He finished his rants with a screech.

(At that time, Rohan had felt intense anger, just like what he saw before being plummeted by Josuke's 「Crazy Diamond」's barrage of punches for (intentionally) insulting the high schooler's hairdo.)

(In his defense, it was kind of ridiculous for having a pompadour in the late 90's.)

The blond only quirked his eyebrows as he came back to his senses before chortling mirthfully (his voice was quite deep, but soothing to listen to, Rohan noticed and his anger began to dissipate as soon as it came), "My, my, quite an interesting fellow you are. I hope you won't mind me asking this, but may I know your name?"

"Rohan Kishibe. Surely you have heard of me somewhere," he had answered with a scoff, somewhat stunned and intrigued with the spiritual detective's mannerisms.

(This meeting would worth dozens of chapters for sure.)

"Rohan...Kishibe?" the man repeated and Rohan was feeling a bit miffed upon hearing it but so far, the man had brought quite interesting ideas and scenarios on the table, so he would indulge into this silliness a bit more.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I haven't heard of that name until now."

_Oh, you son of a -_

Rohan took a deep breath, trying to keep himself composed with the man's antics (was he deliberately doing so or _what_? They seemed genuine so far.) and said calmly, "I'm Rohan Kishibe, the writer and artist of the manga _Pink Dark Boy_. Here, I have a copy of it." He opened the lid of his satchel and rummaged inside the bag before pulling out a magazine of the latest issue and gave it to the stranger.

He watched as the man flicked through the book before sitting down on the pavement.

Ha.

He, (The Great) Rohan Kishibe who wore such eccentric clothes (even more so than the blond opposite him) worth hundreds of thousands yen had spent them simply to sit on the cold, dirty and slightly wet pavement. In a dark, cold alleyway.

(Good thing they were hidden from plain sight; he must had been so desperate for ideas if he had come to do this.)

As the man read the latest chapter of his manga, Rohan took note of the stranger's appearance and before he knew it, he had hold his pen in hand and began to draw him on the sketch pad he had brought.

He started with the head, making sure to draw the concentric squares on the bowler hat in equal distance. Then he moved to the man's visage and emphasized the features he was drawn to: the indigo eyes (which were now glinting in interest) and the hollow cheekbones. Lastly, he drew the body (he noticed his drawing subject was rather muscular) along with the clothes, trying to capture the man in time.

He was adding his final touches onto the drawing when he heard the sound of paper rustling and lifted his gaze to the man, who in turn had lowered his eyes to look at the art.

"I didn't say you can draw me, Kishibe-san," the stranger said in the most unnoticed exasperated tone. But then, his stare softened and with a faint smile, he thanked him for the art.

"To be honest, I had lots of questions for you," Rohan started, turning to a new page of his sketch pad, "but I will go with the most important ones: What's your name? It isn't fair that only me had given mine, while as you didn't. And secondly, how did you get that injury?"

The blond was silent for a while, casting a glance toward his missing arm and sighed. "Call me K-13."

"K-13? That sounds more of a codename," the mangaka mused, leaning forward in interest.

"That's what people call me and I couldn't have it any better," said the man, tugging down the brim of his bowler hat. "As of my injury, I was doing an investigation of a place in Morioh, and it was still unfinished. I was initially interested with you since you are an artist; something I wished I had the time to do but upon seeing your powers, I can't help but to ask for your assistance."

"Wait, wait, _wait_. Hold on," Rohan was getting more energetic ever since he had chatted with the man, "You said you lost your arm here? In Morioh? You're a spiritual detective, right? Does it mean the place you're investigating had supernatural elements?"

(He was reminded of his trip with Koichi to the **[Ghost Girl's Alley]**; a place that was now gone after Reimi Sugimoto and Arnold's departure to **[Heaven]**.)

"Indeed," K-13 replied, his voice was dripping with venom as his eyes fell onto his left arm again, "If you are interested, tell me right ahead. But I must warn you, it can be pretty dangerous, especially for your little friend there; the one I actually needed help for."

Rohan glanced behind him, only to see**「Heaven's Door」** had materialized, the **[Stand****]**'s green eyes casted a worried look to him.

But how could someone pass up such an intriguing opportunity of investigating a supernatural place?

"I'm in," the artist said in finality, his heart was pumping in excitement. At last, he would get some refreshing ideas he wanted for his manga!

"Good," K-13 smiled upon hearing the answer and got up. "But you must promise me one thing: If you ever to use **[Ghosts]** as your source for inspiration, please ask for their consent first. You would hate it if someone pried into your life, didn't you? Now please return this guy back to normal and we will be off."

Rohan didn't need his initial target anymore, so he lifted「Heaven's Door」's effect from the Ghost and they watched as the papers containing the spirit's past life reformed and he woke up, with Rohan having to apologize for his action (he didn't mind even if his ego was a bit challenged by K-13).

Satisfied with the explanation, the spirit had forgiven him and thanked the blond before leaving.

"I will inform you when we will be going there," K-13 said with a wave of his right hand, "Perhaps through a letter. Would that be alright?"

"Yeah, it suited me just fine." Rohan stood up and watched as the detective walked out of the alleyway and turned right. Soon after, he exited the place and went to the left, beaming.

(He couldn't wait for this new adventure.)

* * *

"Took you long enough," spoke Kosaku as he greeted Kira after waiting for his guest for almost two hours. He knew something would happen between him and Rohan Kishibe, but he surely didn't expect for the two to get along pretty well.

"Well, I sort of invite him to join us for the mission to destroy that cursed nest of **[Cleansers****]**," said Kira nonchalantly, his only hand was inside the pocket, "I didn't think he would agree to it."

"Eh, he's an artist who was interested in mystery and stuff, so I don't see why he _wouldn't_ say yes to that."

"Fair enough."

The two spirits walked in silence, watching as some people had walked out of buildings; working time had ended for the day. They carefully made their way through the crowd, not wanting to lose their limbs.

As they reached the neighborhood, it was close to sunset.

"Too bad we didn't get anything done today," Kosaku playfully ribbed at Kira, who only chuckled upon the gesture.

"It was quite a productive day, however. I suppose we start looking for the items tomorrow. Deal?"

"Whatever you say, Kira-san."

"Meow."

Both men froze at their places, and were surprised as a cat suddenly came up to them. It was lithe-grey in colour, having golden eyes, a pink nose and a long tail.

For some unknown reason, the cat felt familiar to both Kosaku and Kira.

"Hello, little one," the hitman started rather cheerily and squatted to stroke it. The cat purred happily as he scratched underneath its chin, rubbing its face against Kira's gloved hand and tail uncurled in joy.

"Who's a good kitty? Who's a good, cute little _kitty_?" he cooed, running his hand from its head to tail and it meowed upon receiving such affection.

(Kira didn't know how, but he had always fond of cats. He wasn't sure if it was part of his previous life, or that the trait appeared after he became a **[Ghost]**, but he surely didn't mind for he could actually relate to lots of things with cats.)

"Hey, Kawajiri," he said and lifted his head to see his host, who had a frightened look on his usually passive face as he stared down to the feline.

"What's wrong?" He didn't stop from keeping the cat occupied. "Are you afraid of cats?"

"N-not really," Kosaku spoke, his voice was jittery a bit, "I actually didn't mind cats. But I felt dreadful of this one out of sudden."

"Oh, please, Kawajiri," the blond scoffed with a roll of his eyes, his hand had trailed to the cat's tummy, "Surely you know animals can see us, right? It wasn't as if this cat had died or something -"

Kira stopped his words right there.

The cat had lied on its side and exposed its belly, which spewed out blood and other internal organs onto the pavement.

The cat was a **[Ghost]**.

Both men were speechless, having their eyes fixed unto the wound for a long while before finally looked around for any clues on how it had died. It wasn't until later Kosaku had pointed out a figure lying on the road, and bitterly confirmed it was the cat's body.

Nearby it was a yellow toy golf ball.

As they carried the ghost animal to their shelter that night, Kosaku couldn't help from thinking about one thing:

Curiosity _really_ had killed the cat.

* * *

A young man was sitting under the streetlight, the orange light it emitted illuminated his figure. He had his bandaged arms carefully hugged his fragile body, seemingly to shield himself from the cold autumn wind and not caring if people were staring at his direction as if he was a hobo.

Hah.

People wouldn't see him, for he was a **[Ghost]**.

But apparently some humans _could_, as the green-haired, the blond and the raven-haired men demonstrated earlier that day. He definitely didn't expect to be attacked off-guard by the first, who was snobbish at first glance.

As for the one with the bowler hat, he couldn't help but to feel thankful with the man's rescue. The piercing gaze the blond had was strangely comforting to him, and especially the missing left arm he had. It was as if he had found a kindred spirit in that man.

But he was most grateful toward the one with black eyes and spiky hair, whose appearance seemed intimidating upon first sight but was soft-spoken, and had kindly covered his exposed head and mangled limbs with the bandages, nursing them with utmost care.

He had hid somewhere after the raven-haired treated him, and was surprised to know the man was friends with the blond.

He wished to return their kindness some day.

The street was getting emptier as time passed; shops began to end their business for the day and lights were turned off from some of the houses. He shivered as the wind blew onto his bandaged head and huddled closer to the place he was **[Bounded]**. His eyes were getting heavy and he stifled a yawn before leaning against the metal pole, ready to rest.

The sound of footsteps was what woke him up.

He rubbed his sleepy eyes, squinting ahead as a figure was heading toward his direction. He shrugged, thinking the man was just passing by before going back to sleep.

Suddenly, the collars of his tattered shirt were seized, and he jolted awake as the man stood in front of him, holding him in place. He was wearing a ski mask, a striped scarf, a black jacket along with beige pants and brown boots.

'Could he see me too? Just how many of those people actually _existed_?' he thought in fear, already shutting his eyes.

(He wished the blond and the raven-haired men were around at the moment, patrolling the town before going to rest for the night.)

"Listen here, pal. I'm not gonna hurt you," the mysterious man spoke, his voice was a bit croaky. "I just wanna ask you if you see any invisible houses around here."

"Invisible...houses?" he repeated in confusion, cracking open one of his eyes. What was this guy talking about?

The masked one sighed irritably. "You know, buildings that are not seen by most people. Only spirits and those who had supernatural stuff could see them. You're a **[Ghost]**, right?" he said gruffly, referring to his cause of death.

"Y-Yes..." he whimpered, tears filling the corner of his eyes and were on the verge of falling.

"Good. If you show me one, just one, I will consider helping you get your **[Peace****]**."

He snapped his eyes open in disbelief upon hearing the last word.

**[Peace]**.

_**[Peace]**._

Was...was this his _lucky_ day? Sure, he was assaulted first by the artist, but then the blond and the raven-haired had helped him out, and now this masked man was giving him a chance to get his **[Peace]**?

This felt like a dream. But he would be crazy as hell to let this chance slip away before his own eyes.

"I... I think I saw one. Just at the end of the street," he started shakily, "I can get you there. But...you will help me right, to get my **[Peace]**?"

As eager as he was, he was suspicious of the man, just like what he felt about the artist. But the man didn't answer him back and he figured he wasn't talkative just like the raven-haired, so he didn't ask any further.

So he gingerly stood up on his twisted legs, raising his left arm as if to ask the man to cradle him. The man narrowed his eyes when he saw the gesture before grumbling, taking the offered arm and let him led the way.

He smiled internally, perhaps the man was one with a cold disposition like the blond. But actions speak louder than words, and soon enough, they reached the house.

It was a two-storey wooden house, having dark brown roof and light yellow walls. He himself had visited the house a few times and the woman who lived there was very kind, if a bit sensitive about her unborn child.

"So...what reason you wanted to come here? Was this your relative's house?" he ventured, glancing nervously at the masked man.

"Yes," was the reply, "I believe I owe you something. You said you wanted to get **[Peace]**, right? So tell me my good friend, how can I help you do so? What was the one you wanted the most in life?"

(He failed to notice the sinister tone in the man's speech, for he was too focused on the last sentence.)

His face changed into a woeful expression when he heard the man's question.

"I... I just wanted my friends to visit me. It...it had been a month since I died, and n-no one had come by," he choked back his tears, recalling the accident that claimed his life.

The ringing laughter of his friends as they raced through the night, the revving of his motorcycle and the horror as he realized the brake wasn't working, leading him to his demise as the truck had come from another junction.

"That's all I wanted, nothing else," he sobbed, flinching slightly upon making eye contact with the stranger. "Will...will you call them? I can give you their names if you want. I just...I just want to see them for the last time before I leave for **[Heaven****]**."

The man was silent for a few minutes after he finished.

Then he chuckled underneath the ski mask, bending over as he giggled and wiped the nonexistent tear in his eye.

For some reason, his gut feeling told him to get out of there right now. The knot in his stomach ordered him to find the blond and the raven-haired, the only ones he could trust wholeheartedly. Yet he stayed in his place, not knowing what to do at the moment.

"You think I would help you with such petty excuse of a reason?" the man stopped his laughter abruptly and spoke to him in a malicious tone.

It was at that time he realized he had done a very horrible mistake.

He turned around, trying to run as fast as possible with his damaged legs. Unbeknownst to him, the man had pulled out a gun from inside his jacket and shot him at both knees, causing him to tumble onto the pavement.

'But...but _how_?' he thought in utmost dread, wincing in pain as he saw his bleeding kneecaps. Not willing to lose his (second) life, he began to crawl, dragging his body in attempt to escape even though he knew it was futile. 'Humans cannot attack **[Ghosts]** unless upon contact, didn't they? So how could he _hurt_ me by shooting? What kind of gun did he _use_?!'

Then it dawned to him: the man could see him, just like the three men he encountered earlier that day. Still, that didn't explain on how he managed to attack him using what was considered as a normal gun. Unless...

His eyes widened upon realizing that the weapon was a **[Ghost Object]**.

Only **[Ghost Objects]** could affect **[Ghosts]**. And it appeared this man was someone who could interact with the supernatural items.

(If he was right, the man was just like the artist; having otherworldly superpowers.)

His train of thoughts was interrupted when he heard the sickening crunch of his fingers getting stepped on by his attacker. He gritted his teeth, the pain was nothing compared to the ones in his kneecaps.

"You wanna get away, pal? I'm still not finished with you; hell, I haven't paid you yet for your tremendous help!" the masked man said rather cheerfully as he crouched down before him, flicking a small sharp knife playfully in his hand, "You said you wanna go to **[Heaven]**, right? Let me help you with that."

The **[Ghost]**'s eyes were those in absolute horror as he witnessed the man drove the weapon deep into his heart, his final thoughts was that of, "I'm sorry, Aoki-san."

The man grinned as he watched the spirit's body convulsed at his feet before stilling. After waiting for a minute, he whipped out a piece of paper and set it on fire using a lighter before letting it slip onto the spirit's tattered pieces of clothing.

"Rest in pieces, pal," he smirked before heading back to the house he was led just now.


	8. Exploration

**I might gonna add some stuff to this chapter later on, so please enjoy this excerpt for the time being!**

**Edit: Now added the second half of this chapter. And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!**

I was very tired.

Yesterday's walk was actually refreshing, but after our trip to Morioh's downtown and meeting the ghost cat on our way home, Kosaku and I had stayed up late; the former wanting to treat its wound despite his efforts were best done when it was still alive.

And so we spent the night trying to keep the cat still, which was infuriatingly difficult since I only had one hand (as of the moment) and the squirming it did absolutely didn't help at all. Added to that was Kosaku wasn't really sure of keeping himself together for the duration; he was too afraid to approach the cat while it was writhing in my grip.

Anyway, it wasn't until midnight did we manage to cover its cause of death, and even then it was a rather sloppy work.

Kosaku promised to reapply the bandage better and even considered to sew the injury if the cat slept with me. And that was what my gaze first fell to as I woke up for the day; its curling form was sleeping on my torso, sending deep hums of breaths on me.

(I couldn't get myself to be mad at its actions for ruining my regularly scheduled rest last night.)

"Hey." I drowsily nudged the cat's face with my right hand. The white glove I wore had some bite marks and I wondered if I had to replace them. Considering we were in a **[Ghost House]** which probably existed during the World War II, I doubted there would be one pair that fit my hands very snugly like the one I had now.

It was a shame really; the gloves were really nice. Perhaps I should ask Kosaku about it?

I watched as the cat on my abdomen slowly rose from its nap, yawning and stretching its flexible body, kneaded my muscles with its paws (which tickled me) for a while before staring back at me with its golden eyes.

"Let's get that wound treated, shall we?" I said, gently coaxed it to leap off my body and I got up from the bed, taking my bowler hat and put it on before going downstairs with the cat.

Kosaku was reading one of the medical books when we entered the living room. On the coffee table were a ball of yarn, a roll of white thread and some needles, which were beside the first-aid kit I had come to associate with him.

"Morning, Kawajiri," I greeted the man and sat beside him. I had long dropped the honorific since I felt very comfortable with him now. In fact, I would consider him as a friend, even though the concept of friendship was a bit foreign for me.

(But hey, there was a first to everything, doesn't it?)

"Good morning, Kira-san. I will treat you first, then the cat. Is that alright with you?" he asked, putting the book aside. He then took the ball of yarn and threw it on the floor, which caught the cat's attention and it began running around, chasing after it.

"Either way is fine." I finally replied. I liked how he was straight-forward in whatever he did, it made lots of things much easier.

With that, Kosaku opened the first-aid kit and took out the usual items he used to treat my left arm. He unraveled last night's bandage and hummed happily upon the sight of my recovering limb, which had grown considerably to the quarter of my forearm.

"You're doing great, Kira-san. With luck, perhaps your arm will be fully healed by the end of the month," he said with twinkled eyes.

As he dabbed the injury with antiseptic-doused cotton, I couldn't help but to think on what would happen after my arm was regenerated. Sure, I had asked for his help to deal with the **[Cleansers]** (in which he somewhat reluctantly agreed though I knew the reason why; even I wasn't going to deal with them again if I had the chance), but the lingering thought was still there:

What would I do after my job was done? Going back to the monk's shrine and continue doing dirty work for her?

(It wasn't entirely bad; I get to kill the menaces who could disturb my quiet life, even after my death. But do ghosts still seek such thing as **[Peace]** anymore, especially those who had become vagabond spirits like me? If time continues forever, then perhaps I could do something beneficial to myself.)

(Whatever that was, I hoped I can reach **[Happiness]**. Even if I have to kill to achieve it.)

I turned my gaze to Kosaku, who had finished treating my wound with a knot of the newly-applied bandage.

Even though I had known him for almost two weeks, I still knew almost nothing of him apart from the ones he told me about so far. (Which was only his job before his death, that's what.) Was he a bachelor? How was his life as a normal office worker; a mundane one or an exciting one?

"So, what name should we call it?" I asked nonchalantly, trying to divert my thoughts from him.

Kosaku blinked in puzzlement before realizing I was referring to the cat, which was gnawing lightly onto the ball of yarn.

"I don't know," he said after a while, taking the roll of thread and a needle, furrowing his eyebrows as he tried to insert the thin thread into the hole. "What are your thoughts, Kira-san?"

"Well... How about 'Kiko'?"

Kosaku stared at me with an incredulous look. Yes, the name sounds ridiculous even to me, but the fact the cat had come toward both of us yesterday was what confirmed it was the suitable name for it.

"'**Ki**ra' and '**Ko**saku', eh?" Kosaku chuckled genuinely as if to deduce my reasoning for the name (his laugh was as soft as his words), "I can't say much about that, but I agree with it. Now, let's get started with the hard part."

(I could hear the sigh from his voice as he uttered the last sentence.)

I got up from the couch and picked up Kiko, the tabby cat meowed in confusion as I gently placed it on the coffee table. Then I held the nape of its neck and made it to lie onto the table to keep it in place while Kosaku began his work of opening the poorly wrapped bandage around its torso last night.

He pulled a disgusted expression as he put the blood-soaked cloth into the dustbin near his leg. Then, as he picked the needle and the thread, he froze. His hands were shaking in fear and his black eyes were dilated out of horror.

I completely had forgotten about his hatred of seeing fresh blood.

"It's alright, Kawajiri," I muttered softly, taking note of his anxiety. "You don't have to force yourself."

At that, he held out his breath and lowered the items before covering his face with his hands, seemingly out of shame for not being mentally strong enough to sew Kiko's wound.

"I'm sorry," his voice was muffled as he repeated the sentence over and over. "I'm sorry."

(It hurt me, seeing the usually stoic man broke down like that.)

"It's not your fault." I released my grip on the cat's neck and it skittered away, going back to play with the ball of yarn. I then sat beside him again and gingerly placing my hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him.

"Besides, you're not a doctor, Kawajiri. The fact you had gone to cover its injury with bandages is more than enough to show you cared for it," I reasoned. "People have their own limits, and this was just one of them. If anything, I admire on how you managed to stay strong when you treated my wound."

"That was nothing," Kosaku spoke through his covered face. "There wasn't much blood to begin with, and it was a **[Ghost Wound]**, not the cause of your death. Although I found it plausible since the loss of blood can be counted as that."

I silently chuckled upon hearing that. At least he was lightening up a bit, and the morbid joke was something I could get by with, what with my job and all.

"Hmm. Do you know anyone who knew how to sew wounds or such? Like a nurse or someone along that line," I attempted to make him lower his hands by asking him about it. It would save us some trouble when it came to treat Kiko's wound and a chance to walk out of our shelter every once in a while.

Fortunately, it worked.

"No," he started, turning to look at me. His eyes were slightly puffy, but nothing out of ordinary. "But I knew a woman who was a housewife. She lived at the town, though. Would you like to go there?"

It was just yesterday we had went there, but I would take any offered chance of a trip to Morioh's downtown.

"Sure." I grinned, in which he returned with a weak smile.

* * *

Once again, Kosaku led me as we walked to downtown Morioh, with me carrying Kiko (her wound was now bandaged, courtesy of the good doctor Kawajiri) in my only hand. It was rather troublesome with her kept squirming in my hug and I wished my left arm will heal sooner, but Kosaku said the intense determination would distort the healing process.

(I still wondered on how did he know about this crucial information. Could he be attacked by something supernatural too? But he told me he hadn't even encountered the **[Cleansers]** yet. So, just _how_ this man knew about it?)

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, frowning at the streetlight where we first saw Rohan Kishibe and the spirit he had disarmed.

The **[Ghost]** wasn't there.

"That's strange," I told Kosaku what was playing in my mind. "Was he a **[Bounded Ghost]**?"

"Apparently he was," the black-haired man replied, feeling the same thing, "I have seen him around a month ago, but never really took notice of him. That was, until yesterday."

"Did you ask for his name?" He answered with a shake of his head.

"Perhaps he had wandered somewhere near it. You know, like the building over there. Come, let's go meet this woman you talked about." I shrugged the thought and beckoned him to continue on our way.

After walking for some more, we entered a narrow alleyway where a **[Ghost House]** stood. It looked rather old, almost the same as **[The General's Mansion]**.

I read the nameplate on the wall near the doorbell, '青木 (Aoki)'.

"Aoki-san?" Kosaku first knocked the door three times before ringing the doorbell. Considering this was a [Ghost House, only spirits and humans like Rohan Kishibe could hear it. And I hadn't see the artist yet as of today. I should inform him about our mission soon.

"Aoki-san?" he called, now a bit distraught. He placed his ear onto the door, trying to hear if there was anyone inside.

"There's no one inside," he informed me with a rather horrified look.

"Why? Did she never leave the house?" I asked with a frown.

"She could _never_ leave; she was **[Bounded]** to this house. She died when a bomb fell onto this place during the war, killing her with her baby," Kosaku explained and I immediately wished I hadn't asked that.

"This calls for desperate measures, Kawajiri. Let's get in," I told him as a distraction and he opened the door, which was unlocked. The increasing agitation in Kosaku's face confirmed the fact this occurrence didn't always happen.

We stepped inside and I lowered my hand to let Kiko explore the house. Both Kosaku and I were on guard, not wanting to be caught by whoever that assaulted Aoki-san.

(If it turned out Rohan Kishibe was the one who did it, I will not let him go easily.)

"This house...It was more barren than when I last came here," Kosaku muttered. It really was; there was barely anything left aside from some bottles of medicine on the shelf and miscellaneous items. It appeared the house had doubled as a pharmacy.

There was a small photo frame on the coffee table. I picked it up, not worrying about leaving fingerprints behind since I had my glove and Kosaku didn't have his fingerprints on his right hand.

"And when was that?" I asked absent-mindedly, staring at the black-and-white photograph of what appeared to be Aoki-san with her husband, both of them were smiling. I wondered how the husband felt when he heard the news his wife and their unborn child had died due to a bomb incident.

(In the midst of that thought, I couldn't help from thinking how she looked like after her death. But perhaps I shouldn't ask Kosaku about that. It was for the best, anyway.)

"A week ago. I came here to restock the bandages and other medicines for you. And now, Kiko." A pause.

"Did you think she had found her **[Peace]**, Kawajiri?"

"That would be rather a ridiculous notion. If she had left to **[Heaven]**, this house will be gone too."

Kosaku's reasoning made some sense. Still, that didn't explain how the woman had disappeared from her house without a trace.

"There's nothing we could do now, Kawajiri." I concluded with a heavy heart, placing the photo back. There weren't much clues to investigate about, and both Kosaku and I were certainly not cops. If there were any ghost polices in Morioh, then I would consider giving them some information about Aoki-san and the spirit we met yesterday.

We then left the house, with Kosaku taking the rest of the items inside as part of our shelter and in honor of the woman I had never met.

Looks like I had another reason to stay in Morioh after my initial job was done.

* * *

A week later, I was strolling with Kosaku along the way to downtown Morioh, looking around for some items for my makeshift bomb. By that, I meant we break into some unoccupied **[Ghost Houses]** in order to find those, and also other miscellaneous items to be brought back to our shelter.

Since other fellow spirits didn't wish to stay there, we might as well take the chance to decorate our shared home. Besides, I had made the decision of staying here with Kosaku, even after my initial job was finished and possibly doing some detective work about the missing spirits that happened lately in the town.

(The monk wasn't too happy when I told her about it, but she was also curious about the case, and allowed me to do so. However, I hated the way she teased me about having 'someone' that influenced me to stay in Morioh. There was no one that can held Yoshikage Kira in place; and Kosaku Kawajiri was just a companion. A very good, genuine company that I couldn't ask more of.)

(How wrong was I about that later on.)

We were just needing some wires left, and as we entered one of the neighborhoods, we saw lots of people surrounded a house. Curious, both of us went closer and frowned.

It was a crime scene. Or more specifically, a homicide had happened inside the house.

"Does crime happen a lot in this town?" I asked Kosaku with slight uneasiness. Because if it does, then the possibility of me having to do my job was getting higher, and I absolutely did not want to have any of it now. In fact, I hated multitasking; I enjoyed doing one thing thoroughly before moving to the next one.

"Not really," he started, "Usually, only small-scale crimes had happened in the recent two months. But a homicide? That's pretty new to me."

I nodded in acknowledgement, taking note of what he told me. If I were to make comparison, then Kosaku Kawajiri would most definitely be my John Watson.

My gaze wandered over a boy who was trying to pry away his hand from his mother's strong grip, seemingly wanting to get into the crime scene for a closer look.

My left eye twitched in irritation of such abhorrent behaviour.

Before Kosaku could stop me, I already marched toward the boy with darkened eyes.

He was getting closer to slip away from his mother's hand but I stopped him in his tracks by gripping his wrist tightly. I smirked at the sight of his horrified expression, not knowing what was holding him in place.

"Now, listen here little boy," I began sarcastically and crouched down before him, increasing my grasp slightly. He went silent, eyes bulged in utmost fear upon hearing my voice.

(It was one of my favorite things about being a **[Ghost]**, being able to feed on others' fear of the unknown. Metaphorically, of course.)

"Curiosity isn't always a bad thing. But there are a few circumstances where that trait will do you no good, like getting into that place." Actually my intention was to give him a scolding that he mostly deserved, but since I was in a particularly relaxed mood right now, I will settle to just threaten him. Besides, the mother did a pretty good job on keeping her child glued to her side.

"Unless you want to get into jail and forcing your parents to find a way to bail you out just because you got curious and went to distrupt whatever clue that could lead to that murder's suspect, then go ahead. And don't be so shocked because you can't see me, for I can definitely see you and I won't hesitate to punish you if you disobey your mother again. Got that?"

The boy could not answer me, mainly because he was spooked out of his mind and was now silently crying. At least he wasn't gaining attention from everyone else. I rolled my eyes in annoyance and let go of his hand. Immediately, he went back to hold his mother's hand, not letting go even after I walked back to Kosaku.

The man was blinking in wonderment when I reached him. "Why would you do that?" was what he first asked.

"I hate such behaviour like that," I sighed and began walking, with him followed suit. "Humans should keep their curiosity in check. Not everything is worth investigating, and sometimes leaving it be is the best thing one should do. Unless, you know, something that could threaten our life, like the case with the missing spirits."

Kosaku had his eyebrows raised when he heard my reasoning, though I took no notice about it. As I said, curiosity isn't always important. I was perfectly content with living my life of not caring to anyone and not being cared in return. That, or maybe I was a bit twisted when I was alive.

(That being said, I was starting to have a bit of change of heart since I befriended Kosaku. But it wasn't an unpleasant one; he was kind to me by helping me around with the materials I needed for my bomb. In return, I taught him how to handle the gun I kept around, stating it was more useful to him since he avoided doing close-range confrontation. So I guessed it's a win-win situation.)

"Say, would you like to go scouting?" I asked as a diversion to the current topic. "It wouldn't take long, I promise."

At that, he turned to me with a perplexed look. "Scouting?" he repeated, black eyes staring at me questioningly. "Where to? And what for?"

"Just around this town. You know, flying around and see others' life. We could take a break later on a building or by the lake, it's your choice." It's what I usually did to relax myself after finishing my job, but I figured this one slip wouldn't hurt anyone.

Kosaku's silence brought something new about him.

"You...haven't fly before?" I asked in a hushed voice, knowing he was discreet about certain things. He struck me as a down-to-earth guy (figuratively and literally), but I had seen some of his whimsical side, which were very rarely shown.

(That part of his was what I liked the most about him, the aloofness was so masterfully crafted that people and spirits alike won't take a second glance upon him.)

He nodded sheepishly as the answer. "But...now you've said that, I...would like to do it."

I smiled genuinely when I heard him. "Hold my hand, and focus on being light."

* * *

We were done by an hour before sunset, now sitting on top of an apartment, watching as the sun's orange light bathed over Morioh. Thick forms of clouds reforming to shape into some vague objects that we took no notice about. To other spirits, we might look like some guys chilling out after a hard day.

Overall, the current scene just screamed tranquility. No words were exchanged for quite a long time, but both of us were content with the stillness, listening intently to the traffic down there.

"We should go back home soon," spoke Kosaku in his ever soft voice, his hands were in both pockets. "Kiko would be wondering where we had gone to."

I chuckled a bit upon hearing him. "She's a good cat; the most she would do was shedding her fur all over the furniture." When Kosaku's comical groan entered the air, my grin grew wider.

"I will clean it up, don't worry. It was me who wanted to keep her, after all."

"I don't think so."

"We will see about that."

Kosaku exhaled his breath and I turned to look at him. His face was the same as always, unreadable. His eyes were the ones spoke to whoever he talked to, and right now all I see within those black eyes were...

Bliss. Joy. Happiness.

"It had been such a nice day," he suddenly spoke, his head was lowered.

"Yeah." Furrowing my eyebrows, I leant over closer, listening carefully for whatever information I could glean about him.

"I...wanted to ask you something, Kira-san."

"What would that be?" Puzzled, I asked.

Kosaku slowly turn to look at me, his black eyes were serene but with a hint of sadness.

"What would it be like, if we haven't met on that day?"

I didn't answer him for a long time. What did he mean by that? Was he referring to when we first met a month ago?

Well, lots of things would happen, but the important ones were that I would still losing my left arm (and definitely not healed as it was now), being forced to work on the solution to kill the **[Cleansers]** on my own (and who knows how long would that take if Kosaku wasn't there), and after the job was done, I would go back to the shrine to wait for another one. Rinse, lather, repeat.

Overall, my life would be just as mundane as it was when I first came into this world, and I told him just that. He smiled, but the expression seemed... troubled. Of confusion.

Of pain. But why?

We then left the building and went home by flying, the man was silent even as we reached our home and he swiftly treated mine and Kiko's wounds before going into his room without saying good night.

The next morning, I woke up to a reapplied bandage on my arm. The same went to Kiko's abdomen. But Kosaku was nowhere to be found.

When I entered his room, there was a new medical book by the bed. Curious, I picked it up and noticed there was a page which was folded over. I flicked the book open and my eyes widened considerably upon the topic the page talked about.

It was about amnesia.

There was also a note; I had come to recognize his writing during the few instance he wrote, mostly due to our planning to destroy the **[Cleansers]**.

_Kira-san,__I'm sorry for leaving out of the blue, for I had something important to be done. But worry not, I will come home every night to replace the bandages for you and Kiko. And I will definitely come back to help you with your job in time. I will also drop by some items for your bomb later on, and help building that in whichever way I could.__Until then, take care.__Kosaku._


	9. Investigations

**It's bomb time! And suspicions were also made!**

(The Great) Rohan Kishibe was sketching in one of his numerous sketch pads, his mind was wandering all the while. He had finished his manga chapter for the week, and was now waiting for the editor, Kyouka Izumi to have her words about it before being published in the monthly magazine.

He sighed as he colored in the sketch of his manga's main character, Pink.

It had been a week since he last saw the man donning a wide-brimmed bowler hat, only known as K-13. Ever since their last meeting, Rohan couldn't shake the feeling that he knew the man from somewhere, but he insisted it was because the spiritual detective was rather eccentric and had childish curiosity, just like him.

Three knocks on the door alerted him of someone's presence and he kept the drawing inside his desk's drawer. "Come in, Koichi-kun," he said.

The brown door swung open and a short boy stepped into the room. His height had easily fooled everyone to think he was a middle schooler, but on the contrary; he was a student of Budogaoka High School.

"Good morning, Rohan-sensei," Koichi greeted and hauled a medium-sized package onto the table. "Here are the letters for this week." It was weekend, so everyone was taking a break for the next two days. It was also the perfect time for the well-known artist to indulge into what his fans said about him and his manga in general.

"Thank you very much, Koichi-kun," replied the mangaka and ripped open the package. Instantly, multiple envelopes decorated with hearts and smelt of rose-scented perfume filled the room.

"New fans, probably," Koichi said through his coughs; the smell was too strong for him. Not as strong as his girlfriend's, though. Yukako had almost always gone to great lengths to impress him despite he had told her numerous times that she was already beautiful by being herself.

Rohan only nodded before sitting on his chair, his assistant followed suit. "Alright, let's get this over with."

The two began to assort the letters according to date and their importance like the bills, making small talk about their life every now and then. However, Koichi still didn't know about K-13.

It wasn't that Rohan didn't trust the boy; rather it was for selfish purposes. He had never found such man like the blond, and the mysterious aura surrounded the detective was what drew the artist to him.

(Besides, he was pretty sure K-13 would appreciate the secretiveness.)

"Hmm?" Koichi's voice broke his train of thoughts and he saw the boy was holding an envelope with no name on it. "Now who would be this letter's sender?"

Rohan's gut feeling was telling him to not let Koichi read the letter, and he did just that by snatching it from his assistant's hand just as he was about to tear open the envelope, leaving him surprised.

"Uh, Rohan-sensei? Is something wrong?" the boy asked innocently, albeit with slightly widened eyes.

Rohan was debating on whether to lie to him or not, but decided to tell half of the truth, "It's from my friend back in Tokyo. He never puts my address on any of his letters."

(Still, his curiosity got the better of him: How did K-13 know his house's address? But perhaps he had heard some teenagers talked about it around, especially Toshikazu Hazamada, Koichi's friend at school.)

"Anyway, Koichi-kun," he started and stood up, taking his satchel from the coat rack before swinging the strap over his shoulder, "I'm going to draw at the lake. Lock the door after you're done."

Koichi only nodded, watching as the artist walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. He sighed; even after a few months trying to warm up to him, Rohan was still rather blunt and cold in expressing himself.

He was still bothered with the letter just now, however.

"Oh well. I shouldn't be intruding into Rohan-sensei's life like that; it would be quite rude of me," he reasoned with a shrug before continuing his job.

As Rohan made his way to Morioh's park, he opened the letter neatly, keeping the envelope inside his satchel before reading its content:

_Greetings, Rohan Kishibe/K-12_,

_I__ believe I should inform you the date of when we will be going to the place I told you about a week ago. Does the 20th sound alright to you? And as of the means of going there, it's up to you on whether you want to walk, but personally, I would advise you to drive; the place is pretty far._

_Also__, while I'm at it, I'm going to say a few important things that you _must _follow, otherwise you will suffer as I did._

(Rohan shivered upon reading the last sentence; he was reminded of K-13's missing left arm. And whatever creature that caused such thing to happen must be absolutely dangerous, perhaps about the same level as **[Stand Attacks]**.)

_You cannot enter the house. Only your little friend could, and even then I must advise you to not let him touch anything unless I told so. Curiosity would bring you nowhere in this case._

(So the place that K-13 told him about having supernatural elements was actually a house? Well, it's not what he expected, but he was still interested to see how this investigation would go.)

(He also slightly frowned when his**「Heaven's Door」**was referred as his 'little friend' but K-13 wasn't entirely wrong; a **[Stand]** can be considered as a friend, although the more accurate description of said nature would be a physical manifestation of one's soul and energies.)

_When we were done, you must tell no one about this. You can cooperate some of the events that would happen later on in your manga, but I strictly prohibit you from putting any elements that could be traced back to me as I read it. If I ever find _one _piece of said information being leaked, I will personally come over to your house and have a talk with you about it._

_Don't__ reply this letter; your words would be more than enough._

_I__ hope luck will side with you on that night._

_K-13._

Rohan had long stopped in his tracks, reading the letter over and over so that each word was ingrained in his mind. He was correct about K-13 liked to keep information about himself as a secret, but up to that extent...well, he only knew one person who had done it so far and he didn't like it one bit.

There was only one way to find out, and (The Great) Rohan Kishibe wouldn't let it go to waste.

* * *

Boredom could do a lot to someone. And that was what I felt as I put the medical book away from my sight, my mind was buzzing, telling me to do something _productive_ for the day.

It had been three days since Kosaku wrote that note, and I hadn't seen him around for that duration. During the few instances he was home nowadays (and those were midnights), his room was locked from inside and when I asked him what he did while he was away, he didn't answer.

(Sometimes I could hear quiet sobbing from the room along with the phrase "For the greater good" being repeated several times, but how should I help him if the damned man didn't tell me the cause?! It was all I could do from tearing my already short blond hair out of frustration.)

Still, Kosaku kept his end of promise before heading out for the day. Both my and Kiko's wounds were treated every day and night, and he had left a copy of this **[Ghost House]**'s key for me. (To think he had prepared for such thing bothered me a lot; like what else was he planning, hiding whatever he did from me?)

Besides, the makeshift bomb that both he and I did was long done. We even made some extras for caution, and had hidden them in the basement.

Today he wasn't at home, and Kiko was snoozing just before the stairs. Complete silence used to be my sanctuary and I had longed for this very moment a few times, but right now...it felt _wrong_.

It was too quiet that the ringing the silence caused was deafening to my ears.

For someone who wanted to live a quiet life, this exact situation felt like one out of a cheesy horror flick that teenagers usually watch for fun. But it still felt ominously wrong and right now, I wanted to get out of this ever-suffocating house.

And I did just that.

Hearing the honking of vehicles on the street as the owners drove through the traffic had never felt so soothing.

My first (and only planned so far) destination was to the neighborhood where the homicide had happened. Upon arrival, I checked around the surrounding area a few times before going to the front door and placed my ear over it, trying to hear if there was anyone inside.

The nameplate beside the doorbell read '坂本 (Sakamoto)'.

"The old man there lived alone, you know," a voice echoed from behind me.

I froze, my only hand hovering inches away from the doorknob. I, Yoshikage Kira, had never felt fear, even when I was up against a fearsome criminal who was a gang leader about three months ago. So why would I be afraid of this one croaky, shaky voice?

(It was Kosaku's fault, he had left me in such a vulnerable state. But that would be ridiculous, right? I had been doing just fine when I was all alone and before he came along. Now I had been such a nervous wreck without him.)

(_You__ were just getting too used with him around_, _Kira_, I told myself. _Maybe he wouldn't want you to be too dependent on him._ Well, if that's the case then I should give credit where it's due.)

Slowly, I turned around out of fear but I saw no one, to my relief. Albeit in puzzlement, I went back to face the door.

"Down here, young man," the voice said and I spun before looking downward.

There was an old man standing behind me, his height was just about my waist. His hair, as expected was white, though it was kept short and neatly trimmed. His clothes were pretty baggy, but not too much. His entire appearance made you think of the regular old man you would see on the street on a daily basis, gazing happily upon reminiscing about the old days.

And yet, he had made me surprised before I bowed to him, apologizing profusely at him (I had took off my bowler hat before doing so) for not noticing his short form. He laughed, but it's not a mocking one. More like a grandfather would do to his grandson when the latter asked about his life in general.

"So, why are you here, young man?" he asked as I placed back the concentric square-patterned headgear on my head. "Wanting to get inside so that you can investigate this place for some clues about the murder that happened three days ago?"

(Damn it, he really had caught me.)

"Yes," I replied, raising my only hand as to show I came with peace. He casted me a curious glance at my missing arm, but didn't say anything about it. Then I frowned. "Are you a **[Ghost]**, sir?"

"If I wasn't, then I wouldn't be talking to you right now." Well, that's true, but there was also the possibility that the old man was a **[Stand User]**. Of course I didn't tell him that, mainly because I didn't feel the otherworldly aura those people usually have from him.

"I've seen only polices were around here, but they didn't come today," the man said. "So you can go in there, but don't touch anything. I don't think he would appreciate it if you ruin the furniture inside."

Nodding, I turned the doorknob and swung open the door. As he told me, there was no one inside. I wondered on how he would know about it. Then it hit me. "You were the owner of this house," I said in acknowledgement, a bit amazed on how he had tricked me into thinking he was a mere passerby.

"Took you long enough, kid," he chuckled. "That's right, I was the one who got killed in here. I would tell the cops on the details, but I can't do that without scaring them out of their skin now, do I? That being said, I saw you giving a piece of your mind to that kid. If I'm not mistaken, you had a friend, right?"

"Yes, but he's not around at the moment. He had...some errands to do," I answered. Truthfully, I had no idea what was Kosaku planning, but the crying he did must have to be related to it. "So...are you going to tell me about your death, Sakamoto-san? And why?"

"Call me Junpei, young man," he interrupted me, already made his way into his house, "As for your questions, why don't we talk inside? Maybe you can find some clues about the one who killed me."

I followed him into the home, taking off our shoes before going toward the living room.

The crime scene was near the stairs, the chalk mark where Sakamoto-san's body had laid was getting fader.

"He made quite a swift work," muttered the old man, "One time I was standing, about to watch the news, the next I had laid on the floor! Dead! He must had used an axe to make the work, otherwise I don't think he could do such a quick attack." He turned around so that I could see the cause of his death, the hack the mysterious murder did was pretty deep. Enough to kill an elderly man who was taken surprised with one chop.

"I guessed you could say I needed your help to find him," he concluded as he sat on the couch. I went to sit on the armchair next to it, frowning. The furniture was mostly intact, apart from some scuffles.

"Was there anything got stolen? It might had been a robbery," I mused.

"Some of my ancestors' items were gone. Maybe he had eyes on those. But I can't argue with that; those items were old as time and I was planning to sell them for some money anyway. Call me ungrateful, but all they did was lessening the space inside this house," he explained. "So, what is your name?"

"Yoshikage Kira," I said with slight uneasiness. I had done it simply out of respect for his age, unlike what I did to Kosaku, which was out of gratitude.

(Sakamoto-san struck me as quite a busybody, but at least I had someone to spend the day with, even if it was only to find his murderer.)

His response to my name was pretty much the same as Kosaku's, but he was fixated to my first name, saying it was beautiful and asked me if he can call me that. My first name was something I held dearly since it could lead me to clues about my previous life. Yet I had relented, once again it was done out of respite.

We continued to talk up until noon, then I left the house, with him telling me to live positively (he had taken notice of my rather gloomy attitude because of Kosaku's absence) and had invited me to stop by his house again at anytime soon.

I couldn't, because he had died the very next day.

There were hole at his kneecaps, possibly being shot and a knife etched into his heart. Knowing the news of a dead[Ghost]would cause quite a commotion within the spirit realm, I had buried him in his house's backyard. It was a really challenging work since I had only one hand to hold the shovel, but it had been raining for the last few days so the soil had been somewhat soft, and I managed to get the job done by sunset.

I am not the one to break promises, so as I stood before his (second) grave, I made the oath to find his murderer, both in life and spirit.

When I asked Kosaku later on that night through the other side of the door, he confirmed that spirits died definitively if the heart was attacked. The injury was also permanent, meaning it could not be healed even with the determination technique he had told me about.

So the principle of life started with the heart was also applied to spirits. Well, that was completely new, but it made sense nonetheless.

The incident also brought the fact that Sakamoto-san's murderer had come back to kill his spirit, which had made this case linked to the missing spirits around Morioh. After I told Kosaku about the connection, he had opened the door to his room with black eyes widened in absolute terror and hugged me (which caught me in surprise with the sudden act), tears staining his face and his fingers ran through my blond hair before massaging my skull emblem gently as if to comfort me.

(I hadn't realized he had been trying to comfort _himself_ as he did that, and both of us had slept in his room that night.)

He promised me that he would never go out alone again, and I couldn't help from being relieved of it. Still, he didn't answer me on what he did during those days he had gone.

After that, we prepared for the day we would be destroying the nest of **[Cleansers]** inside **[The General's Mansion]**. He suggested we moved the items inside the house to ours', and was noticably happy upon seeing the numerous classical record discs and old works of art and literature before collecting them and lifted them all the way back to our home with ease, willingly going there back and forth just to make sure everything inside the house had been collected.

(He made sure he didn't enter the kitchen, though. He also had seen the remains of my left arm there, already turned into a plant of ominous origins.)

It appeared that Kosaku's interests were almost the same as mine, with him listening intently to whatever score of Wagner's I had played on the record player and I had enjoyed the medical lessons he set up later on in return.

Basically, our life had been better, and it would only be even worth it if our mission with Rohan Kishibe had gone smoothly and the spirits' killer had been caught (in which it seemed that only Kosaku and I had known about it).

* * *

(The Great) Rohan Kishibe had arrived earlier near the park where K-13 had instructed him to wait for that the time agreed. About 10 minutes later, the blond-haired man appeared with a suitcase and told him to hit the road as soon as he entered Rohan's red Honda Corolla, holding the suitcase with utmost care.

When Rohan had asked him if he could fly since he literally had outed himself as a **[Ghost]** during their first meeting, the man scoffed, saying that flying was something he normally done out of happiness. Besides, the sight of a flying person would definitely catch some attention, especially during the peak hours of Morioh's traffic.

It took 25 minutes for them to reach the Katahira district of Morioh.

Rohan had parked his car near a convenience store, and followed K-13 to the extremely narrow alleyway between two buildings.

"You will need to stay here, K-12," he had said and reluctantly, Rohan summoned**「Heaven's ****Door**」. The mostly white **[Stand]** nodded as soon as K-13 had his back turned to enter the **[Ghost House]**, ready to do his part of the mission, along with an additional reason.

Tonight would be the night where (The Great) Rohan Kishibe will find out the truth.

Unfortunately,「**Heaven's Door**」 couldn't execute his plan of taking K-13 out of surprise and 'read' him, mainly since the blond had lurked around, trying to find more of the **[Cleansers]**' hiding place and used the **[Stand]** as backup each time they entered a room.

The **[Ghost House]** was surprisingly barren, with only essential tools had lying around. But K-13 had reassured him it was nothing out of ordinary, stating it was the same as he had left it the first time around. 「**Heaven's Door**」's range also allowed Rohan to see more of the house through the **[Stand]**'s eyes without being restricted.

Rohan only watched as the spiritual detective took out a homemade bomb from the suitcase he had brought (his eyes widened considerably out of fear upon the sight of the dangerous item) and placed it in the center of each room.

The bombs were timed and could be set off with a switch that was also self-made.

(The fact that K-13 had used bombs as his method of dealing with the mysterious creatures really worried Rohan for two reasons: one being his instinct told him they were absolutely dangerous, and two being the situation he had somewhat teamed up with a **[Ghost]** whose actions reminded him of the serial killer that terrorized Morioh for the past fifteen years.)

"Alright, we're almost done," spoke the blond detective as he took out the last bomb from the suitcase. "All that's left is the kitchen." Both spirits then went to said room, carefully treading their way.

The cabinet that held tableware and cutlery items were drawn open, with some broken eggs littered the table. There were also more of unbroken ones inside the top cabinet, and Rohan could feel the dread emitted from them.

**「Heaven's Door」**'s green eyes fell onto a plant of medium height that stood still in the center of the kitchen. Rohan tilted his head in confusion.

"That was my arm," K-13 explained ruefully, indigo eyes narrowed upon the sight of the plant. "Those **[Cleansers]** had attacked me while I explored this house, and were also linked to the deaths of 56 people around here. And now I could finally sleep in peace, knowing this cursed nest will be destroyed."

"Thank you for accompanying me to this mission, K-12."

_Oh, shit._

"Uh, yeah. I should be thanking _you_ instead, K-13. For you know... you're the one that initiated this. Who knows how many people will die if you didn't have the thought of destroying this?" Rohan said by using **「Heaven's Door」**, scratching the nape of his neck lightly. "Anyway, this is the last one, right? I hope so, because I got something to do -"

A gunshot echoed inside the house, with the spiritual detective had barely save the **[Stand]** (and by extension, Rohan) from the speeding bullet that made its way toward them, sending both of them tumbling onto the floor.

Rohan's mind was spinning. 'Was that a **[Stand Attack]**?' he thought, his head was throbbing upon the impact. He only had a few seconds to recover when he suddenly felt the coat of **「Heaven's Door」** being pulled up and he was met with K-13's furious indigo eyes.

"Did you tell anyone about this important mission, Rohan Kishibe?" the blond asked through gritted teeth. (The artist had never seen such fury like the one in front of him right now.)

"Why would I do that?" he croaked, taken aback with the sudden outburst from the man, "I swear on my **「Heaven's Door」** and _Pink Dark Boy_ that I didn't betray you!" Well, he _was _going to, but now the attempt had fallen to ruins. Thank you very much, unknown man.

"Let's hope you are right," the detective muttered, letting go of his iron grip. Rohan coughed a bit, watching tearily as the man adjusted the brim of his bowler hat. "I don't know who the hell was out there, but I must make sure he wouldn't get those eggs because the spirit world would fall to shambles if that happen. Right now, I want you to get out of here quietly and find out whoever attacked us. You got that? Now go, I will finish this job."

(Rohan had to take double glances so that he could be sure that the blond was safe before making 「Heaven's Door」 to float out of the house, trying to find their attacker.)

It was only about a few minutes passed when he suddenly heard K-13 saying in a low voice, "I'm going to eliminate you now," and the soft click of a switch that he somewhat had been familiar with.

His eyes widened when he saw the figure of K-13 flew out of the **[Ghost House]** in the shower of orange light and fire, unconscious.


	10. Discovery

(The Great) Rohan Kishibe had his eyes fixated as the events unraveled before him; the huge fire that consumed **[The General's Mansion]** thanks to the multiple bombs set up inside the house, the old pieces of wood and shards of glass were flying all over the place and he swore he saw the silhouette of a man on the top of one of the buildings that the **[Ghost House]** was situated before disappearing, lifting his gaze instead toward another man whose unconscious form was fast approaching the ground.

Under no circumstances would he allow that to happen.

"**「Heaven's Door」**!"

With quick thinking, Rohan Kishibe had his **[Stand]** to save the man who he had partnered with in the mission to destroy the **[Cleansers]**, K-13 from falling to his (second) death. The white humanoid figure immediately went to catch the blond spiritual detective and took him outside from the alleyway where the mansion stood before making him sit against the nearby convenience store.

The artist went to the man's side with a worried expression, eyes flickering over the burning house all the while. He didn't expect for them to be ambushed just as their mission was almost done, and it made him wonder if the spirit had made some enemies along the way.

Once again, he heard the sound of gunshots, except this time it was rapid and followed by a faint cry of someone in pain; the bullets must had hit the target. As much as his curiosity piqued to know what had happened**,「Heaven's Door」**was not for combat, so he couldn't do a lot even if they managed to catch up with their attacker.

Reluctantly, Rohan stared at K-13's unconscious form, whose dark clothes were illuminated by the fire and he could see some smudge of ashes on the man's angular face.

As he pulled out a piece of cloth from his satchel, he suddenly froze as his mind came up with the idea he had ever since he had met the blond.

To find out his true identity.

K-13 had his guard lowered thanks to the explosion, and right now was probably the only chance Rohan had to uncover the man's secrets.

**「Heaven's Door」**stood next to him with eyebrows knitted. So far, his manga _Pink Dark Boy_ was still going strong with the additional inspiration he had after his first encounter with K-13, but he couldn't help from feeling puzzled on why the man demanded his identity to be a secret, giving him a codename instead.

What would it be like, to betray someone who he barely knew over something that could be trivial like an actual name to anyone else? Rohan wasn't the best person around, but he could keep a few secrets. That being said, he wouldn't hesitate to use them as blackmail to his subjects.

His breathing began to abate as his fingers slowly but surely hovered over the blond's visage.

_I'm sorry, K-13._

He failed to notice a pair of black eyes that were glaring daggers at him in the shadows of the night.

* * *

Kosaku Kawajiri had his teeth bared in utmost anger as he witnessed Rohan Kishibe slowly reached out his hand to touch the unconscious Yoshikage Kira's face in attempt to figure out the man's identity.

"To think that you would do such thing to him, Rohan Kishibe_..._" he muttered with shaking voice as in trying to rein his rage, hands gripping tight on the gun Kira had given him for safety reasons. "Even after you promised him to ask for his consent to do so, and assaulting an already helpless man? I could not believe you would stoop so low in your morals."

Kosaku knew himself well, that he was a man with many faults, but he treasured loyalty amongst all. His parents had taught him it was one of the most important traits people will seek for in life, and he had promised himself to be the most faithful one in whatever connection he would make later.

Even with his disorienting marriage with Shinobu, he had stayed with her for twelve years, not even searching for other female partners. Hayato had been the small salvation to their relationship, and he was actually the happiest man when the boy was born. Both of them had been all what he needed in life, and he felt content as long as they were with him.

(As he worked overtime in his office, he would stop for a while, lamenting with teary eyes for not being the best husband and father for them. He would return home at the time where both Shinobu and Hayato had fallen asleep and gingerly ran his fingers over their hair, not knowing how to express his feelings in other ways.)

The same went to Kira. Kosaku held no grudge against the man, not when he treated Shinobu with such gentleness. He had given her the allusion that it was still the same Kosaku Kawajiri that she personally knew, but slowly doing changes like one would do to reevaluate his life.

Who knew all it took for her to be happy was a little affection and care? But he had tried doing so for years. Had he done it the wrong way? Was it his fault for being so discreet in showing his love for her?

(Kosaku didn't even mind if Shinobu had fallen in love with Kira, for he wouldn't have anyone better to replace him other than the blond. It was also the reason he treasured his friendship with the amnesiac, knowing the one who had lightened his family's life was still there, buried in the depths of the mind.)

"But that won't be for long," he continued, black beady eyes now glinted with purpose. He raised the hand holding the gun at eye level, aiming straight at the green-haired's head. "You wouldn't even get to see what you had just revealed, for as soon as your fingers touched him, I will kill you, Rohan Kishibe."

"For no one can know the identity of Yoshikage Kira, unless he himself told so."

He wasn't aware that his earlier victim was heading toward him from behind, knife in hand.

* * *

The assailant who attacked Kira and Rohan inside the mansion was now hobbling along the narrow alleyway, dragging his injured left leg with hand pressed on the hole at his kneecap, gritting his teeth at the sight of blood staining his pants.

Karma had gotten him, somewhat.

He knew it would take a long time for the injury to heal, but he would be happy if he could kill the one who had shot him using his own modus operandi.

The man who injured him had his back facing him, gun in hand, pointing at the man wearing a jagged headband. He took no notice of him, lifting his gaze toward the one beside the latter instead.

His initial target was the blond man with the bowler hat, who he thought would be dangerous, what with him investigating the murder of the old man a week ago. He had killed the old man's spirit to erase the evidence, but another spirit had found him out, causing the body to be discovered by the man.

_To think he had a hidden ally within all these..._ He winced as he accidentally placed more pressure to his injury. _No matter, he wouldn't get to see my identity. It was dark here, and I had gotten a special trick._

He grinned wickedly at the thought. His best friend would help him in reaching the life he had always wanted. A life full of riches.

The bladed weapon in his hand flickered back and forth from being solid to non-existent. To anyone else, he looked like he was simply clenching his fist.

"I must say, there is more to you than meets the eye," he whispered, referring to the black-haired man who was still oblivious to his surrounding area. Unaware of his incoming doom.

He took another step closer and raised the knife in his hand, just enough for the green-haired to witness the limb that would bring the killing blow to the one wielding the gun. (So that it would appear as if he saved the man from being shot to his death.)

His injured leg suddenly gave way and he let out a muffled cry of pain, realizing with utmost dread the terrible mistake he just did.

The raven-haired swiftly turned around, black eyes widened in surprise before shifting to horror and so did he, raising his head to see the darkened visage of the man.

_It was you! _He was absolutely correct the man thought the same as they made eye contact.

Immediately, the brunette shot two bullets toward him and he barely could avoid it if not for his best friend's help. In retaliation, he had his best friend to pull out the gun he used earlier and shot the same amount to the man, one toward the right arm and the other to his left leg.

He was immensely happy when the bullets hit their target, his opponent cried out in pain and leant against the wall for support.

Once again, the man pulled the trigger before collapsing to the ground, the lead from the gun managed to injure his best friend's shoulder, which also made him to be hurt thanks to the bond they had.

He gritted his teeth as the effect grazed his skin and decided it would be dangerous to keep on fighting with his additional injury, so he retreated into the shadows.

With resignation, he stared as the green-haired lifted the unconscious man back into his car with the help of a white humanoid figure, narrowing at the sight of the latter.

_That man had the same power as me...I must be very careful from now on. It also appeared the blond was a **[Ghost]**_. _I need to lay low for now, luring them all into a false sense of security. Only then I will strike._

As for the brunette, he could kill him right away. It wasn't like the blond would wake up soon, judging from the huge explosion he himself had caused. He was still wondering on the eggs the man talked about, but if his reaction about them being stolen was a terrible news, then he assumed the same, albeit in a different way.

His eyes bulged in disbelief as the raven-haired lifted himself up with ragged breaths and flew away, blood trailing down the holes at his white suit and pants.

_So **[Ghosts]** can actually fly?! _he thought in bewilderment. Then he stopped himself. It was a pretty common idea that spirits could fly since they were not bounded to the burden that were their bodies, so why would he be surprised with the truth of it?

He watched as the man hovered in the air for a few seconds before going to the right, following the red Toyota Corolla that the green-haired drove. He sighed; he would get his revenge someday.

"Can you lift me up?" he asked his best friend, who didn't reply but did as what he was told before disappearing into the night.

* * *

I didn't know how long I had passed out.

The memories of the mission had been bleary at most, with the last thing I remembered was a huge shower of fire, wood and glass. I thought there was a point where there were gunshots, the feeling that Rohan Kishibe had lifted me into his car with his white little friend, and we had stopped near the area where Kosaku's **[Ghost House]** was.

As my eyes fluttered open to the rays of the morning sun, I was greeted with the sight of the ever familiar Kiko on my abdomen, curling with her long tail sometimes twitched. She seemed overjoyed to see me as I nudged her face, rubbing her face against my chin and I took her, cradling her in my arm.

My body was feeling very stiff like it had stayed dormant for a week, so I restricted my movement to only around the bed. I absent-mindedly ran my fingers over the skull emblem at the back of my head, and was shocked to feel a bandage over it.

For the first time, I felt fear of anything that happened to the mark.

My gaze then fell to my left arm, which was in a cast. A few days before the mission, Kosaku had told me the bones of said limb had grown and had put on the cast to make sure the growth could happen within a protective case. I could move it around for a while, but he said it was best to leave it be for the moment.

As for my ever good friend, he was sleeping next to my bed, sitting on the chair with head resting on his right shoulder. The right sleeve of his blue pinstripe shirt was folded up, revealing an injured area at the upper arm.

I frowned and edged closer, letting go of Kiko all the while. How did he get the wound? I had asked him simply to be the backup of the mission, shooting any **[Cleansers]** that might escape my sight. Did one of them had gotten him?

The bed creaked under my weight and Kosaku's black eyes went open instantly, blinking several times before gazing at me with a weak smile. "Oh, you're awake already, Kira-san," he spoke, stifling a wide yawn.

"Good morning," I said, a bit numb. "How long has it been?" There were images flickering in my mind right now; I remembered seeing Kosaku before fading back into unconsciousness. To think I had passed out in his arms had been embarrassing, yet he didn't say anything about it.

"Three days," was the answer.

"Three days..." I repeated, eyes were downcast. That hit on my head must had been very strong if it managed to put me into a short coma.

"There was a gash over your skull emblem, a quite nasty one," my self-appointed doctor continued, now leaning forward. "You should stay in bed for a couple more days. Then we can go for a walk around the town. It's getting close to Halloween, so it should be fun."

Halloween. As far as I knew, it was actually the day where the Celtics believed the human world and the spirit world would be intertwined, but in Japan, it was merely a celebration so that people can dress up whatever they wanted.

"I hope it does," I offered a smile to him, in which he returned with twinkled eyes.

"Well, call me if you need anything; I will be in my room." With that, he stood up and made his way toward the door.

Or rather, _hovered mid-air_ as he made his way toward the door.

"Hey," I started in worry and got off the bed, rushing to his side. Kosaku barely flew, and only did so whenever we went scouting. "What happened? Did the **[Cleansers]** got you?"

Kosaku seemed hesitant to answer my question, his eyes were not meeting mine. His hands were twitching; it was an instant hint that he didn't want me to know the answer.

Just before I opened my mouth to cut off whatever reason he was going to give as an avoidance to the question, he sighed and said, "I got shot." He glanced at me with a sad look.

There was a long silence inside my room; all noise ceased to exist in my ears, not even Kiko's loud meowing managed to attract my attention.

"...What?" I whispered in disbelief, my mind was brimming with questions. Kosaku was shot? By whom? How did it happen? How was his leg? Will it heal in time?

Once again the brunette exhaled his breath and went to lay on my bed, I followed suit. Kiko jumped on my lap and I stroked her striped fur with her purring affectionately upon receiving the attention. He then beckoned me to get closer and I obliged, already knowing what he was about to do.

To run his fingers over my hair.

It was a rather strange thing, but after the talk we had about Sakamoto-san's murder, he had asked me to sleep with him that night. And as he caressed my hair (now and then), I couldn't help from feeling comforted with the gesture and leant in for more.

"There was a man," he began in his ever soft voice, "I think he was the same as Rohan Kishibe; having a... what was it called again?"

"A **[Stand****]**?" I offered, all the while feeling frustrated inside. Great. Absolutely great. Just as I thought I could take a break from the **[Cleansers]** before starting the investigation of the missing spirits around Morioh, a criminal with a **[Stand]** was added to the mix.

"Yeah, a **[Stand]**. I think he was tailing after you because you were seen with Sakamoto-san, who was possibly his victim. He attacked you and Rohan while you two were in **[The General's Mansion]**, but with the explosion caught him off guard, he was forced to run."

As Kosaku talked, several images flashed before my eyes, the exact same ones that he told me; the gunshot, a silhouette of a man and the bomb.

"I shot the **[Stand]** at the knee to prevent the man from escaping, and it seemed that he was injured as well. Does that how **[Stands]** work?" he ventured.

"Not really; as of what I had observed, only a **[Stand]** can attack a **[Stand]**," I mused, curious with the information, "Perhaps it was a **[Stand]** that could interact with **[Ghost Objects]**? Or even making them out of actual objects. If it does, then he might actually carry those weapons of his around, invisible to normal humans but not for **[Ghosts]**."

Both Kosaku and I smiled as we made eye contact, excited to finally find an important clue to the case. "You did the right thing, Kosaku," I grinned earnestly, impressed with his quick thinking and reached over to stroke his spiky hair, to which he closed his eyes. "With luck, we can turn him to the police soon."

"Thank you, Kira-san," he whispered, smiling. "You should get to rest now." I happily obliged, curling next to him with Kiko had moved to my torso once again for a catnap.

(I almost missed the tiny hiccup in his voice as he continued stroking my hair, the gesture slowly lulled me to a deep slumber of peace.)

"Oh my dear boy, how are you feeling now?"a female voice spoke from the depths of my mind.

Who was that? Who was she referring to? Should I answer her? And why was I suddenly feeling feverish?

"I... I'm getting better,"another voice said, this time it was a male one, sounding rather shrill and slightly whining in pain. Then it shifted to irritation,"You don't have to worry about me; I will just sleep here. I'm not going anywhere."

Was that me? But I didn't even open my mouth to reply. (Though I had thought the same response.) If it was me, then why would I be annoyed with the woman? She was just trying to help, didn't she? If it was for my well-being, then I should accept the offer, even if reluctantly.

"Ah, but who knows what will happen when you're asleep,"the woman reasoned (rather airily) as if to support my deduction and out of the blue, I felt the light scratching of fingernails on my scalp and exhaled in contentment upon receiving the contact as it went back and forth. The gesture felt just like what Kosaku did to me, except it was much gentler and almost motherly."What if your fever suddenly gets worse to the point you will have a nightmare, and I'm not around to make you feel better?"

(She had a point there considering whoever this boy was, he was quite young, judging by the voice he had. Maybe around eleven to twelve years old.)

There was a moment of silence, with me waiting in anticipation for the younger one to respond.

"Fine,"he finally relented with a sigh. For some reason, I felt relieved and happy with his answer. Then he added with a whisper,"Thank you, Mother."

Wait, mother?

"Rest well, Yoshikage,"the female replied and without any warning, my very being was tugged away from the conversation. I shouted and struggled as I was dragged by those unseen forces, not wanting to leave; not knowing if this moment would appear again.

The memories of my previous life.

With a gasp, I woke up for the second time and immediately sprang from my bed while breathing heavily, snippets of the bizarre conversation were still playing in my mind. The sudden act had greatly startled Kiko, who then hissed at me for ruining her nap. I blatantly ignored her, my eyes were on Kosaku's sleeping form instead.

He was snoring lightly with his left arm stretched out to where my head was moments ago. Apparently he had fallen asleep while stroking my hair, and as my breathing began to relax, I couldn't help from smiling endearingly at the sight of his tranquil face.

"Come, Kiko," I whispered and swung open the door, the cat meowed as I picked her up and we both gazed at the raven-haired man who was still sleeping.He had worked hard for both of Kiko's and my well-being, and he absolutely deserved some peaceful moments of his own.

"Sleep well, Kosaku."

* * *

After spending some time playing (quietly) with Kiko, I went out for a walk. I had placed a note near Kosaku in case he was wondering of my whereabouts when he woke up.

This time I had chosen a different neighborhood to explore. As I avoided any contact with the passersby, I gently rubbed over the injury across my skull emblem, my mind was filled with the event I seemed to experience during my life time. I decided to break down said recollection and see if I could gain some important information about my previous self.

For starters, the woman was my mother. From the memory, I could assume she was kind and caring, perhaps a housewife. Her voice was rather shaky though; like she had passed her prime. However, what befuddled me was my younger self's attitude toward her; he wasn't pleased with her company. So she was coddling me? But it sort of makes sense since she was old, and as if her affection toward me wasn't enough evidence, I appeared to be her only child.

(It reminded me of what Kosaku did when I first entered his life, and I could feel the guilt stirring deep in my heart for not returning their kindness.)

My eyes caught something moving and I stopped, taking out my knife for self-defense. At my right was an abandoned large mansion with boarded windows and vines growing over the walls. I sighed in relief and kept the weapon back, staring at the house all the while. If only the owner had taken some time to clean it up, it would be beautiful. Not that it seemed to matter right now.

I was about to leave when a strange sound entered my ear. It was an amalgamation of burble, groan, whine and any other sounds I didn't have time to describe. As always, my curiosity got the better of me and I entered the house's lawn warily.

There was a window that was poorly covered and I peered inside the house to which my eyes widened, utterly baffled with the thing I set gaze upon.

It was a...creature to say the least. (I was being generous calling it that.)It was stout, having misshapen limbs, a fatty abdomen,a droopy face and even got some hair. But it stood up straight, so it must be humanoid. Still, the actual state of that thing evaded me.

Just what on earth wasthat?!

The creature suddenly moved and I quickly ducked, not wishing to be seen. Was it a supernatural figure too, like[Ghosts]? If it was, then I must be prepared.

Taking my knife out again, I stared back inside the house to investigate about that thing.

It continued to gurgle (at some point I realized it was its way to communicate) while doing house chores, cleaning whatever it could and after a while, it went toward another window where a plant pot was placed.

I was absolutely wrong to think that was the only bizarre stuff I had seen throughout the day.

The lump in the pot was not a plant, period. As the green creature approached it, it stood up and meowed, in which the former smiled and scratched under its chin.

It slowly dawned on me that the thing in the plant pot was a fusion of a cat and a plant. What would usually be the flower had become its face instead, the stalks were the eyes, the stem was its body and the four prominent leaves had served as its legs. It even had whiskers and a mouth.

My mind was really blown away with the outlandish setting in the house. I should definitely ask Kosaku about them when I got home later.

All of a sudden, the cat-plant hybrid snarled, its hackles rose in agitation and yellow eyes were staring right at me. Soon enough, the green humanoid figure turned around, wondering what was the cat telling him.

Shit.

In the haste of hiding myself, I accidentally bumped against the wood and both creatures stared upward, seemingly believed their intruder was upstairs. The green one growled and began heading toward the stairs, just next to the wardrobe. Cautiously, I peeked inside and watched as it gingerly walked, grunting with each step taken.

I felt pity for whoever that was.

But now was my chance to see that cat-plant thing in close range, so as soon as the green creature disappeared from my sight, I floated toward it. Instantly, its ears were lowered and it shrank itself, whimpering.

"Shhh..." I gestured with my index finger on my lips before reaching out to touch it, all the while kept making eye contact with it, "I'm not going to hurt you."

Cats are curious beings. They will sniff whatever you place in front of them and if they believed you will be nice to them, they will return the same favor. After a while, the hybrid approved and allowed me to stroke its body.

"You're such a mystery," I whispered and smiled as it purred contently, "Are you an animal, or a plant? How did you come to existence? And how do you get your energy? By eating food or through photosynthesis?" I laughed when it nipped my finger and grinned as it chewed the appendage lightly, covering my glove with small bite marks.

The longer I played with it, the stranger I had felt. This cat-plant thing... For unknown reason, this situation felt like a déjà vu; my heart was telling me this hybrid was important, that I needed to have it. But why?

A snort startled me and I realized in horror that the green monster was going back downstairs. But I couldn't just let this cat go; I trusted my instincts well. In the world of spirits, everything you do was according to your natural tendency.

With that in mind, I snatched the plant pot and rushed out from the mansion, the cat yelped in surprise as I flew toward the sky, laughter filled the air.

"I shouldn't be doing that," I started but the fact that I managed to steal something right under one's nose was just too hilarious to me, so I kept cracking up every now and then. As we took a break on the top of an apartment, the hybrid was getting energetic thanks to the sun and after a few hours, it curled against my chest, exhaling deep rumbles of breaths.

When I returned home with the plant pot, Kosaku was waiting at the front door with Kiko in hand. He had his eyes widened in stupefaction when I showed him the creature and was shocked to know I had stolen it. However, he didn't berate me for that. In fact, he allowed me to keep it if its presence helped me in regaining my memories.

Kosaku had called the cat-plant hybrid Stray Cat to which I agreed immediately, and Kiko had been getting along with it very well.

The next day, the payment of the mission for Rohan, Kosaku and I had arrived. The monk also had sent us a letter each, with mine ended with a good luck.

For once, I didn't mind her cheeky attitude.

* * *

Inside the abandoned mansion, a teenager with an X-shaped scar over his face was sitting on the couch, bouncing his legs impatiently as he waited for the other end of his call to pick up the phone. Beside him was the green humanoid creature, who was twiddling his stumpy fingers nervously.

After the third ring, a female voice spoke, "Hello, this is the Higashikata household, how may I help you?"

"A-Ah, good evening, Higashikata-san!" he greeted, blushing slightly, "This is Okuyasu. Sorry for calling, but may I talk to Josuke? It's about our homework."

"Sure, let me get him in a bit."

Okuyasu could hear the light banter between the woman and her son ("It's already night, JoJo! Change your uniforms, please!" "Later mom, I gotta take this call!") and chuckled lightly when the phone changed hands, "Hey man, what's the matter?"

"Oi Josuke, I got news for you," he said in a serious tone, casting a glance to the figure beside him.

"Bro, this doesn't sound like you," Josuke replied, "Something happened? Is your dad alright?"

"He's just fine. You remember that cat-plant thing, though?"

"Yeah, I do," the other end muttered rather darkly.

"Well... someone stole it."

"WHAT?!" Okuyasu held the earpiece away from his ear upon hearing the exclamation of disbelief.

"It's true, man! My dad said he heard a noise upstairs and when he went back, that cat was gone!"

A long silence entered, with Okuyasu was pretty sure his best friend was freaking out about the news. Stray Cat was no laughing matter; its power to form air bubbles was proven to be deadly, especially during their fight with Yoshikage Kira back in July.

"So...what now?" he asked timidly in fear of Josuke's outburst, "Should we look around for it?"

"Unfortunately, since we don't know who's the thief, we have no clues on where to start. Let's just hope that he didn't die," the voice from the other end said nonchalantly.

"Dude, that's dark," he pulled a disgusted look upon hearing the response.

"Well, it's his own fault. Anyway, you ready for our Halloween party?"

"You bet I am! I can bring my dad along, right?"

"Yep! And the Kawajiris are coming too!"

"Superb! Well, see ya tomorrow, Josuke!"

After they exchanged goodbyes, Okuyasu ended the call and sighed.

"Stay safe, kitty," he mumbled before taking his father's hand and led him upstairs to rest for the day.

* * *

Both Kosaku and I spent the next few days recovering from our injuries by reading some classical works that we took from[The General's Mansion]. TheSherlock Holmesseries was what caught my attention, and I found the main character to be very intriguing with his unorthodox thinking skills. Meanwhile, Kosaku preferred the works of Edgar Allan Poe, with his favourite being the poemThe Raven.

As for our newest member, Stray Cat turned out to be a[Stand]whenwe found out it produced some air bubbles for Kiko to play one day. Luckily, it was docile and enjoyed being cuddled by me for some reason. Kosaku also began to warm to the felines, sometimes taking time to stroke them.

It was now the final weekend of October, and as we walked around the neighborhood, we witnessed numerous decorations of bats, black cats, pumpkins and fake cobwebs were at almost every house. Along the way, we met some **[Ghosts]** and had wished them all good luck in finding their **[Peace of Heart]**.

"Quite a celebration this would be," I said, smiling at the sight of children in their colorful favorite characters' outfits strolling around the neighborhood. I chuckled at the attempt they did to scare one another, much like what the Westerners did.

"I heard the villas were where people usually held a party. You know, the riches and upper middle-class," Kosaku added, who was floating lightly beside me since his leg was still healing. I grinned at him, knowing it was an invitation for a late evening walk.

After we crossed the street to head over the area, Kosaku stopped. Frowning, I followed his gaze to two humans; a woman and a boy who stood near the streetlight, hands full of plastic bags filled with items.

Both of them had ginger hair and brown eyes, and it suddenly occured to me that they were related.

Out of nowhere, the woman had turned to look at her left and I immediately froze as her sight fell onto us, slightly cowered behind Kosaku to hide myself before frowning. Now why would I do that?

The raven-haired however remained stoic and was staring at them in return. As I gazed up and looked deep into his black eyes, I could see the tiniest hint of longing in them.

"Let's go, Kira-san," he finally spoke with a steely voice, turning away with hands inside the pockets of his suit. Confounded with his sudden act, I casted a second glance toward them and felt the faintest feeling of familiarity before finally following him, my mind was spinning all the while.

Had I met them before?

Soon enough, we reached the northeast part of Morioh, where the villas were. And as Kosaku told me, the place was filled with life; people chatting happily and doing poses accordingly while the others were taking pictures.

I wondered if I had celebrated it in my previous life.

We continued walking until the cheerful noise had died down considerably, the quietness of the place was very soothing and allowed me to make some thoughts about those two we met earlier.

I was so engrossed that I barely caught up with what Kosaku was telling me. Or rather, asking me: "Uh, Kira-san? Can I ask you how your name is written?"

I turned to him, who had stopped in front of the gate of a quite old but well-kept traditional Japanese house. It was rather large, the lawn was spacious and the scenery around the house was beautiful at most.

However, I frowned at his unusual request. "Why?" I questioned and headed toward him, "Is it important?"

"Probably," was his answer. I raised my eyebrows, not truly convinced before telling him to held out his hand. This time it was his turn to be confused, but he had obliged and gave me his right hand.

Unconsciously, I inspected the condition of the offered hand. Aside from the missing fingerprints, his hand was normal; having some calluses here and there from the long time doing office work.

Perfectly unremarkable, just like the man himself.

I used my index finger to trace the name '吉良 吉影 (Kira, Yoshikage)' onto his palm. Then, I gazed up to Kosaku, and was surprised to see a smile in his face.

"I think we can find bits of your **[Memories]** here, Kira-san," he informed while gesturing to the villa.


	11. Denial

**A new arc, 'It's a Hard Life' is up and this one is really angsty (in my opinion; I kept crying whenever I thought of this arc's scenes)! Buckle up tight!**

It was close to midnight when two figures made their way back after attending the Halloween party an acquaintance had held in their neighborhood. In their hands were some plastic bags filled with goodies the family insisted to bring back home, stating they accidentally spent more than they needed for the party.

The tall one, a ginger-haired woman in her mid 30s had a stoic expression, one hand firmly holding her son's. The boy also had a solemn look in his face, facing downward.

They then entered the lawn of a two-storey house with dark brown roof and light yellow walls; the nameplate on the mailbox near the front door read:

川尻 浩作 (Kawajiri, Kosaku)

しのぶ (Shinobu)

早人 (Hayato)

The two broke contact when the woman, Shinobu pulled out a key with a small heart engraved on it from her purse and put it in the keyhole before turning it. With a click, she swung open the door of their home.

"Put those bags on the dining table, Hayato," she spoke as they entered the house, flicking the lamp switch on so they could take off their shoes. "We can deal with it in the morning."

The boy subtly nodded, bringing the items toward the kitchen while she relocked the front door. She then walked toward the windows and lowered the curtains, checking if there was a break-in. After finding nothing, she went to the stairs, where her son was waiting.

"Sleep well, Hayato," she murmured as she gave him a light kiss on the forehead. He returned the gesture by hugging her before going to his room at the second floor, softly mumbling, "Good night, Mama."

Her eyes trailed at the basement door near the kitchen, narrowing before she sighed and slowly walked up the stairs to her room. She stopped when her sight fell onto the window at the end of the hallway, which was closed. She turned away with pursed lips and eyes squeezed shut.

As she stood in front of her room, she paused with her hand hovered over the doorknob, briefly wondering if there was someone inside.

She shook her head furiously as the thought crossed her mind. There was no one that shared the room with her, not when Kosaku had died four months ago.

Had it been four months since he left?

Shinobu opened the door cautiously, peering inside before stepping in. The moonlight from outside had illuminated the room a bit, showering the bed with its soft white glow. It also showed the state of the wooden desk near the window, covered in dust as if it hadn't been touched for months.

And it had been correct; she didn't even venture close to the desk, only glancing at it every now and then.

She knew it was only a trick of the mind, but sometimes she could see the hunching figure of her husband was sitting on the chair, spending a small amount of time reading after returning home from his work.

(She was a heavy sleeper, but occasionally she managed to catch a glimpse of him entering the room and eyed him from the bed as he got ready to sleep, facing her side of the bed for a short while before turning to the window.)

She shuffled toward the wardrobe and opened it, taking out her woolly black nightgown as her nightwear since the weather had been colder than usual lately.

Her brown eyes dropped onto the sight of the metal safe near her feet. Her jaw clenched in a grimace and she swiftly shut the wardrobe, changing her autumn outfit to the nightgown and placed the used clothes into the laundry basket. Then she collapsed onto the bed, lying on her left side.

She never thought she would find solace in the quietness of the room, but it was getting familiar when the family cat died due to a run-over back in early October.

Shinobu was a woman who enjoyed being brash and honest about her feelings. She saw it fit her best, and her community college friends often said she would have a good husband who would rein her attitude to some extent.

They hadn't been wrong.

Kosaku Kawajiri was a man who was quiet and cool from others' perspectives, so she had went out with him to feel superior. He also studied at a pretty high-rank college, bringing her the assumption that he must be quite rich and smart. She supposed it wouldn't hurt to have a boyfriend to pass the time before meeting her true love.

Her mind slowly played the memory when she first met him. It had been autumn too, and the bet she did with her friends really had brought a change to her life.

* * *

"Hey, Shino-chan; do you see that guy?"One of her friends, Yumiko spoke as they walked to the bus station for a short trip to the town. It had been a weekend, and they needed to buy some items for their story project.

She had turned her head to where Yumiko had pointed out; a young man was sitting on a bench with a book in hand and his grey satchel was placed near his feet.

His black hair was spiky; she found it was rather comical since almost every male in her college had their hair slicked back. He had a chiseled look in his face, having high cheekbones and his black eyes that bore deeply into the book didn't caught her attention at first.

If anything, Shinobu thought the man was alright in appearance. Not too handsome, but being attractive enough for girls her age to cast a glance toward him every now and then.

"Say, how about we place a bet?"Yumiko continued, followed by giggles from Akari and Chika."I challenge you to talk to that guy and get hooked up with him. If you get to do it, I will pay 5000 yen!"

"Yeah Shino-chan, you're the only one of us who's still single,"chuckled Akari behind her hand,"Besides, I heard from Terumi he didn't have a girlfriend yet, so this may be your lucky day!"

Shinobu, being her usual self had accepted the challenge and walked up to the man, her heart was beating in excitement with each step.'It's just for a stupid bet,'she had told herself,'Nothing can go wrong with this, right?'

She had cleared her throat to get his attention and he looked up, staring at her with a mild expression of curiosity.

"Can I sit here?"she began, smiling brightly,"My bus doesn't arrive until thirty minutes later, and the other seats had been taken."Her eyes glanced for a fleeting second at her friends who were guffawing at Yumiko, whose face was full of disbelief.

He didn't say anything but he had scooted to his right, allowing her to sit beside him.

"Thank you."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, and Shinobu hated staying still in a long period of time as demonstrated by her hands twiddling idly on her lap.

"Uh...I hope you won't mind me asking but what book are you reading?"She started, eyebrows knitted.

Once again, the young man didn't reply, only showing her the title of the book, '影男 (The Shadow Man)' by Edogawa Ranpo.

"Eh, so you like mystery stories? I'm not really interested in those,"she had said, taking note of the man's interests,"But do you have any other books? Maybe a magazine or something short for a light read. I'm going to town in about twenty minutes."

He seemed to be in his thoughts for a while before taking his bag and rummaged inside it, the novel was placed on his lap. Then he pulled out a book which was a lot thinner than the one he had, frowning."Is this one alright with you?"he spoke with slight uneasiness.

Shinobu was stunned to hear his soft voice that she could feel her mouth was agape before looking at the offered book.

It wasWeekly ShōnenSunday(last week's Sunday in fact), and even though she didn't raise her head, she knew the man was blushing red in embarrassment.

"It's alright,"she said between laughs, taking the magazine,"I was actually expecting another novel, but this was good enough. Thank you again."

Shinobu ended up missing the bus.

She never expected herself to be indulged with such fantasy stories published in the magazine, yet they somehow managed to capture her interest thanks to the young man.

When she finished reading, she glanced at her watch and abruptly groaned, catching his attention. "I missed the bus," she explained and his eyes went wide before he began apologizing, to which she brushed it away with a laugh.

"It was my fault really, you had nothing to sorry about,"she had said and to her surprise, he shook his head and offered to walk her back to her college.

As expected, the walk was full of silence with Shinobu somehow held the man's hand and when they had stopped near the female hostel, she thanked him and walked away with a grin.

At least it hadn't been a disaster.

"W-Wait!"she suddenly heard the man's voice and turned around to see he had his right hand stretched out.

She stood still, waiting patiently for him to continue. She had known his name thanks to her friends (especially Akari's boyfriend Terumi), but she supposed it wouldn't hurt for him to say it himself.

"I..."he began, seemingly holding back.

"Shinobu,"she said, giving him a faint smile as encouragement.

His eyes were widening a bit and she had to wait some more before he finally replied,"Kosaku."

Later that night, her friends had bombarded her with questions about him and they laughed as Yumiko had to give her the payment for the bet.

From that day on, whenever she went to the bus station, he was always there. She supposed he was a good companion, perfect for those who wanted some relaxing time.

However that happiness was short-lived.

At first Shinobu had thought he was just too shy to talk to her, with her having to coax for his response every now and then, but later on she realized it had been his defining trait.

Kosaku was quiet and cold (his gaze was intimidating her but that was the only charm she found in him) and didn't even make any attempt to show his love to her, apologizing profusely for every little mistake he inadvertantly did.

The only thing she could compare him with was the Cowardly Lion fromThe Wizard of Oz; being so fearful in appearance but was very timid in attitude.

After a few months, she had had enough with his cowardliness and threatened him (lightly) that she would leave him if he wasn't brave enough to make love with her.

That had been the only time she saw the fire of arousal in his eyes.

Two months later, she told him that she was pregnant with their child and Kosaku, being so responsible in whatever he did had managed to arrange a small marriage ceremony away from her friends. Later on they graduated from their college and had settled down in Morioh for the life she didn't want.

Hayato's birth was what she thought would be the salvation to her relationship with Kosaku, but as the boy grew up, he turned out to be the same as the father; quiet and cold.

For twelve years, she didn't know why she had stayed but she insisted it would worth a lifetime if she somehow able to get Kosaku's or Hayato's attention. It had been in her name, right? To endure whatever obstacle that came in her way, and the two's attitude had been such a challenge that she could not help but to back away, accepting her fate.

That changed on 29th June, 1999.

The night before, she decided to stay up a bit more and was silently watching from the bed as Kosaku stepped into the room and changed into his pyjamas. Then he sat near his desk and started clipping his fingernails until every nail was cut and he threw them into the dustbin. He then walked toward the wardrobe and she could hear the knob was turned, followed by the sound of metal cranking as the safe was opened.

(She didn't peek to look at the combination of the safe, for she thought it was also used to keep some important items. She still held the idea that one should be brave and honest especially to their lifetime partner, and couldn't find the reason why Kosaku didn't share the numbers with her.)

When he closed the safe, Shinobu had fallen asleep.

The next morning, she didn't cook. The house was full of microwaved meals, and both males in the family certainly weren't concerned much about the nutrients. As long as the items were regularly restocked, they would eat whatever was served.

She watched as Kosaku walked toward the front door with his suitcase, putting on his shoes. Hayato had gone to school a few minutes earlier, mumbling about the rate of ISOs in camera.

For a while, he only stood there, his hand was already turning the doorknob.

"What's wrong?"she had asked rather harshly, arms folded over her chest. He could've just told her if he got some problems, right? They were married for goodness' sake!

She almost smirked as he jolted in great shock upon hearing her voice. Was it some sick pleasure, to see him so weak?

He shook his head fearfully, cowering a bit before turning to her with his ever pitiful expression. (Shinobu hated that look the most, she had seen it for twelve years and possibly counting.)

"I'm going,"he muttered.

"Take care."With a snort, she then left the room, heading to the bathroom to do some cleaning.

When he came home from work and started cooking out of the blue, she was more than shocked. Where did that had come from? The meal had been alright (for the first attempt she had seen him doing so), but she thought it was a special occasion.

Maybe he hadn't been such a pushover in his life.

The surprises kept coming for the next few days; he didn't use his electric razor, no longer did he lock the window at the end of the second floor hallway so the cat could enter the house at night, and the fact he stole from the landlord that continuously mocked him to pay the rent really bothered her.

Was this the same Kosaku she had known?

One night, she decided to make him tea and as she stood in front of the door, her heart was beating nervously in her chest.

'It's your husband, Shinobu; why would you be afraid of him?' she had reasoned and when she entered their room, she stammered, "Um...I was wondering what you are doing, but you've always been such a bookworm, right? I... I brought you some tea. I know this is a rare thing, but... If you didn't want it then it's alright."

She placed the tray on his desk and went to sit on the bed, smiling sheepishly as he took a sip from the cup and flipped through the book with his expressionless look. When the clock struck to 11 pm, she turned around and pulled off her thigh socks, preparing to sleep.

She had no idea when her husband had come behind her, accidentally tore her magenta dress in the process and caused the buttons to scatter across the room.

She gazed as he stared at his hands in disbelief before turning away while softly muttering,"I'm sorry."

She had heard the phrase uttered by the man so many times in her life, yet that time she truly felt the emotion behind those words. Her face was flushed and her heart too, was pulsing excitedly.

Perhaps her efforts of staying with him had been fruitful.

As she had come to Kosaku to tell him about the beautiful British Blue cat in the basement, she had been happy that she could be in the embrace of the man she loved. And when it turned out the cat had died, he consoled her by telling it wasn't her fault, cleaned up the mess and buried the body in the backyard.

It was at that night did they sleep without any distance, him hugging her and ran his fingers through her long ginger hair, the gesture had lulled her into a peaceful sleep.

By the time she woke up after being knocked out by some strange occurrence in the backyard, she saw Kosaku's face and hand were having some deep holes, along with his upper left arm being bandaged as she observed his sleeping form on the chair.

She was frightened of the cat's curse as evidently shown by her toenail, but he had protected her and it was at that moment she was fully in love with him. Truthfully, the changes he did were so surreal that she couldn't help from thinking he was immortal; he even ate the shiitake mushrooms that he hated so much.

When he entered their room with white hair slicked back, she had been surprised to see his new appearance, mainly because she thought his black hair suited him better. He told her he wanted to try a new look and she smiled because she could finally see the man she was married to being confident with his mannerisms.

On 16th July, she had walked her husband to the front door with her hands holding his arm. She had been upset that her favourite tea set was ruined, but he comforted her with a smile and a promise to buy a new one at her choice.

When he turned the doorknob, she had said with a blushing face,"Take care, dear."Sure, he didn't kiss her, but she knew he was taking his time to be the man she always dreamt of.

He smiled in return."I will be back home soon."

As always, her happiness didn't last long.

* * *

Hayato watched with teary eyes as his mother cried herself to sleep when he peeked into the room. He didn't know who she was mourning, but he knew she still loved his father when she insisted him to show the recordings he had of Kosaku to be watched together in honor of him.

Since she found out the man had been replaced by the serial killer Yoshikage Kira, she ordered him to remove all the hidden cameras he had set up inside the house, to which he complied. There was no reason to keep them anymore, not when the one he was suspicious to had gone; both of them in fact.

Josuke and his friends had been helping him and his mother in dealing with their loss for the last few months, as shown by the party they held a few hours ago.

As he laid on his bed later on, he still wondered why he had avenged his father's death. Did he love him? But the man had been distant and only did what was necessary to support the family, not caring on whether he and his mother were happy or otherwise with their life.

Yet he had robbed his mother's happiness by having Kira killed.

He slept with his camcorder tightly cradled in hand, the only gift Kosaku had given him for his birthday.

* * *

Shinobu woke up with a sigh the next morning. It had been Sunday, and she supposed it would be alright to sleep in a bit more before doing housework, like keeping the items from the party last night. Besides, she wasn't ready to go back to work at the writing company she had gone to after summer ended.

Apparently she had turned to Kosaku's side of the bed in her sleep, and her eyes teared up again upon knowing it.

"Kosaku..." she muttered, her hand stretched out to take the other pillow. As she dragged the pillow, she heard the faint sound of paper crinkling under it.

Curious, she rose from her bed and lifted the headrest away, stunned to see a brown envelope under it. She took it and carefully opened it, hands dipped into the wrapper and her surprise was tripled when she pulled out a thick wad of money.

'Who had been entering this room?' she thought and looked around in fear, 'and what could this be for? The one that Kujo man had given me was still unused, in the wardrobe.'

The answer was a note placed inside the envelope:

This is the money for the rent. I hope it's enough for the next three months.

Her eyes widened at two things: the fact that she didn't pay the rent for October just yet (and the landlord didn't seem to know he had been robbed by Kira four months prior since he didn't question her about it), and the handwriting.

Her legs were tangled in the sheets as she raced toward the wardrobe, grabbing a medium-sized box and threw open the lid. Her eyes fell onto a worn book titledMoonlight Shadowand she flicked it open, her shaky fingers traced the inked writing of the man who gave the book for her birthday ten years ago.

She had believed in supernatural occurrences like the cat's curse and the strange powers Hayato's new friends had, and she had no reason to debunk the idea that Kosaku was still around, as a ghost.


	12. Truth

I woke up with a huge smile that day.

Why shouldn't I?

For all those times I wandered almost everywhere in Japan, trying to find any clues on who I was before my demise or to know if I even existed in the first place; the answer was simply here, in Morioh.

When Kosaku showed me the old villa back on the night of 30th October, I was in such disbelief (_mind-blown_ as I would say) that I almost stumbled when I went next to him and stopped at the house's entrance, reading the nameplate on the green wall: '吉良 (Kira)'. As we made eye contact, I struggled to put coherent words as my gratitude for his help.

At that time, I was willing to cast away my doubts about Kosaku in order to repay the man's kindness and assist him to reach his own goal. But he didn't tell me what it was when I asked him about it; instead he asked me if I wanted to spend the night in the house.

I declined, much to his surprise. The same had gone for me; my heart was so overjoyed with the reveal that I almost fainted in exhilaration, to which Kosaku only smiled as he heard my response and led me back to our shared home.

When he said he had a business to attend and told me to not wait for him, I simply nodded and spent the rest of the night playing with Kiko and Stray Cat. I couldn't care less about the fact that I had slept with them on the floor after helping Kosaku to nurse his injuries later on, only to be waken up on my bed instead.

Taking my bowler hat, I went out of my room and raced downstairs, with my sight fell onto Kosaku as soon as I stepped into the living room.

My eyes slightly drooped to see his solemn face and he had his hands clasped together. He seemed to be deep in his thoughts, with his thumbs twiddling subconsciously.

"Kawajiri?" I ventured, nervous to break whatever train of thought he had. When he didn't answer, I snapped my fingers to get his attention. Blinking out of his trance upon hearing the sound, he then looked up to stare at me with an alarmed look before chuckling lightly.

"I'm sorry, Kira-san; just doing some wistful thinking back then," he explained while his left hand scratched the nape of his neck. His right arm was now in a sling to minimise the movement of said limb since the upper arm was injured due to a gunshot.

I only sighed as he uttered the response. "You've been spacing out a lot lately, was it because of your leg?" I furrowed my brows before sitting next to him on the couch and casted a worried glance to the injured part, also from the same cause. Soon enough, Kiko leaped onto my lap and I started to stroke her striped fur.

"A bit," was the reply. I silently scowled; he was thinking about something else, but as always, he didn't want me to know about it. "So, are you going to your house today?"

(That talent of him deflecting the question with not much of a second thought somewhat made me envious. Yet, I couldn't hate him for that.)

At that however, my face lightened up.

"Why not?" I began as I scratched the tabby cat's ears, "To think I actually exist and not some forgotten person in this world was a joy on its own. To know that there was a reason for me to follow these routines; the idea of my central value didn't evolve around numbers alone. I mean, there's probably another reason on why I am still here, though; that's why I wanted to find my memories in the first place. This whole thing... it was... thrilling at most."

"I couldn't thank you enough, Kawajiri," I finished, giving him an appreciative smile.

Kosaku just shook his head. "Everyone deserves to know the truth. I'm just helping you to reach your goal, Kira-san."

"Come on now, you can't just tell me you're here because you wanted to help me remember back who I am," I chided and let go of Kiko; she went to the window where Stray Cat's plant pot was placed before curling beside it. "There must be something else that acted as a reason for you to stay here."

Immediately, Kosaku went silent after hearing the statement. His hands gripped each other tightly and I could see his black eyes flickered wildly in panic, not knowing how to reply. I waited patiently for his answer, yet he didn't give one.

"Would you want me to accompany you to go there?" was what he said instead.

"No."

Kosaku raised his head, his eyebrows furrowed upon hearing what I told him.

"You are injured more than I am, it's best if you stay at home," I reasoned with a sigh, once again gazing at Kosaku's left leg. When he was going to retort, I continued playfully, "No offence Kawajiri, but isn't this what you did back when my legs were recovering from the **[Cleansers]**' attack?"

"It wasn't like I can't go anywhere, I can still float around," the man whispered, to which I clicked my tongue and waved my right index finger in playful disapproval.

"You've done a lot to me and Kiko, it's about time for me to nurse you in return. Besides, you can't just depend on flying," I said lightly, giving him a weak smile. When he didn't respond, I stood up and headed toward the front door to put on my shoes. Then I added, "Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself. If it makes you better, I will tell you what I found in there, or if some of my memories had reappeared."

I adjusted my bowler hat and was about to turn the doorknob when Kosaku suddenly spoke, "It's best if you don't tell me about it."

I stopped in my tracks, stunned to hear such words from the man and I turned to him with a frown. "What do you mean?" I asked, a distraught look crossed my face.

The black-haired man's eyes fluttered for a moment and his hands clenched before he swallowed and went on, "I mean... don't we all have secrets? There may be a few things about your living self...that you should keep to yourself."

A long silence entered the air, with both of us did nothing to break it.

"I see..." I finally murmured, there was a ring of truth in that statement after all. How was my entire character when I was alive? Did it differ or was it just the same as I am now? With a sigh and my heartbeat was pulsing in trepidation, I opened the front door.

"Take care."

* * *

After Kira left, Kosaku waited for a few minutes before letting go of his shaking hands and hid his face behind his left hand, trying to forget the conversation he had with the blond moments ago.

Just what had he done back there?! Now Kira would be more suspicious of him, and the fact of the amnesiac man visiting his old home was possibly the worst idea Kosaku had ever come up with when he thought of it. Would he stay there, and not coming to this **[Ghost House]** they lived anymore?

What if he remembered everything there?

Kosaku shook his head fearfully upon the thought, and sighed as he lowered his hand. There was no point in sulking about it; he himself had wanted it to happen after all.

(As much as he hated the truth, he wondered on how long this façade - this... _sickening_ charade of lying to the man he wanted to ask for help later on - he had set up would last.)

His gaze wandered to Kiko and Stray Cat's snoozing forms by the window, the weather had been colder than usual. The bandage around the tabby cat's abdomen had just been reapplied that morning with Kira's help since he couldn't move his right arm a lot.

Kosaku supposed it wouldn't hurt for him to practice more techniques of treating injuries, like sewing a deep wound.

Slowly, he rose from the couch and drifted toward the cats' direction, both of them stared at him in curiosity. He then picked up the plant pot, causing Kiko to wail and a weak smile appeared on his face when he brought Stray Cat to the coffee table, the tabby cat followed suit.

After he placed the pot, he took Kiko in his arms and gently made her to lie on the table with the cat-plant hybrid was near her neck, bending down to lick her head as if to comfort her.

Kosaku undid the knot of the bandage and he almost gagged upon the stench of blood as it hit his senses. Shaking his head to ease himself, he then took out a needle already inserted with a roll of white thread from the first-aid kit near his feet while Stray Cat kept the injured cat steady by biting down the nape of her neck.

"It will be alright," he started when he saw Kiko's golden eyes were fixed on him, pupils dilated.

Taking a deep breath, he began to do his job. However, with his condition, it took almost four hours for Kosaku to finally finish sewing Kiko's wound.

His hands were now covered in blood, and he started to feel light-headed upon the sight, added with the waft of said liquid fogged his mind. Still, he smiled as he stroked the tabby cat's head, to which she purred contently. The sutures on her abdomen were rather neat too, and he almost felt proud of it.

"You did good," he whispered. He held out his hand and both felines started to lick the blood off, nibbling on his fingers along the way.

(At that time, Kosaku began to realize on why Kira's **[Stand]**,**「Killer Queen」**had the features of a cat.)

He then leaned against the couch and closed his eyes, wanting to sleep and forget the whole ordeal as he waited for Kira to get home.

(_If_ the man would ever come back.)

* * *

_Drip. Drip._

Some muffled voices began to speak throughout the sound, though only one stood out in particular:

_"I will push it..."_

That voice was full of determination even as ragged breaths echoed around, heaving painfully with each exhale.

_"I'm going to push the switch..."_

The revving sound of a vehicle going into reverse mode roared.

_"Bites the Dust...will go into effect again..."_

A sickening crunch then filled the air and crimson metallic-smelled liquid splattered all over the dark void of his mind, followed by a bloodcurdling scream.

* * *

"Kosaku!"

Kosaku's black eyes flew open in absolute terror and he was met with the sight of Kira opposite him, sporting an aghast look.

Still in his hitman getup, which was clean.

Behind the man were Kiko and Stray Cat, both were snuggling against each other with their ears flattened; did they know what he dreamt of?

'No...no, no, _no_, **_no_**!' was what he first thought with panic-stricken eyes, paralyzed with horror. 'Did he hear me?!'

They only held eye contact for a while before Kira softened his expression and much to Kosaku's surprise, gently pulled him into an embrace.

"It's alright now," the blond spoke, running his fingers along his black spiky hair. Kosaku froze; why did Kira come back here? Shouldn't he live at his own house now?

Yet, he couldn't stop his tears from falling and he quietly sobbed against the man's shoulder, staining the black suit. Kira started to move back and forth while continued consoling him, and he couldn't help from being reminded of his childhood upon the gesture.

"You're...not going to ask me, about the nightmare?" he finally croaked after a long moment of silence.

"No," was the answer, "unless you really want to talk about it."

(Kira didn't know how relieved Kosaku was when he said those words; he doubted the man would accept the story well.)

(Once again, Kosaku took refuge in the comforting aura of lies and secrets.)

"Oh, uh... I brought something home by the way," Kira continued and released Kosaku from his embrace, the blond stared at him with a comforting smile and wiped away the tears that trailed on his face. "It would help you a lot later on, so don't even try to refuse, OK?"

Kosaku only nodded meekly as his response, to which Kira chuckled and the man went to the front door, glancing at him before bringing in a pair of crutches.

"I... don't exactly go to my house, you know," Kira started when he sat beside Kosaku again, placing the crutches at Kosaku's left side. Kosaku blinked in confusion, because: _What?!_

"If you think I must live at my family home after all those times of staying in this **[Ghost House]**, I have the right to call bullshit on it. Because, well..." he scratched his right cheek, "I want you to know...that I value you more than just being my caretaker."

(Kosaku wished Kira had stopped right there; he didn't even deserve the title. Why not? Ever since he met Kira in September, his entire being was etched and entwined with twisted vines of lies.)

"There may be lots of things about my living self that I have to discover, but I need you to believe that my words stay true even when I regain my memories; that you are my friend, Kosaku Kawajiri."

Tears welled up in Kosaku's eyes again.

(Kosaku wanted to break free of this act, wanted to tell Kira the truth of their relationship, but he had no courage to do so.)

"This weekend...I will open the cast of your left arm, Kira-san," he choked out instead.

Of that, he was sure.

* * *

For the next five days, Kosaku had forgone a new routine; courtesy of Kira, who wanted to help him walk again. Every morning, they would take a short trip around the **[Ghost House]** with the blond placed Kosaku's left leg on top of his right one and slowly guided him with each step before using one of the crutches. Around noon, Kira would go to his family home to investigate more of his past and at night, they would settle for reading stories.

(For the duration, they would sleep on the couch instead of in their rooms.)

On the morning of 6th November however, he woke up to the sound of heavy footsteps and saw Kira was lifting a huge painting easel toward the couch with one side rested on his left arm, which was still in the cast he had put on three weeks ago.

"Oh, good morning, Kawajiri," Kira greeted upon noticing him and set up the easel beside the coffee table.

"Kira-san, you're...not going to visit your house today?" he ventured, puzzled with the situation. Where did Kira find that item, though?

Kira only shook his head, a smile was plastered on his face.

"Do you remember who you are?" Kosaku's eyes slowly widened as he spoke. His heartbeat began to droop; he could feel his face was getting paler and his head pounded sharply; the nightmare he had before started to emerge again.

(No, no, _no_, **_no_**; he couldn't afford losing his composure right in front of Kira. The man was sharp, connecting the dots between his lost recollections and Kosaku would be easy for him, and that would be _really bad_ because Kosaku needed Kira's help, yet he didn't want the man to be traumatized of his own death.)

"No," Kira answered, exhaling a relieved sigh as he dragged a wooden stool and placed it in front of the easel before sitting on it, "There was nothing left to be discovered there. However, it was a reassuring thought really; to know that there wasn't much difference between my living self and I am now. I mean, if I got myself in the same situation as him, I would 90% react the same like he did."

Kosaku was stumped when he heard the response, but he supposed he couldn't argue with that logic, because what else could he do? He thought showing Kira his family home would bring the man's memories back for sure.

And yet...

And _yet_...he couldn't help from being relieved with Kira's statement. He was getting used to see the man's face unharmed, not being marked by any injuries he got when he was fighting against those pesky kids who proclaimed themselves as the Morioh Warriors (including Hayato).

"So...what makes you wanting to paint today?" he asked.

"I already asked Rohan to look out for anyone who had their knee shot and was admitted to the hospital on 21st October and afterwards for our spirit killer. Since we now had lots of free time, I figured it's alright for me to indulge in the world of art. Don't laugh at me if my drawing isn't good, though," Kira explained, narrowing his eyes upon the last sentence before breaking into laughter.

Kosaku smiled upon hearing it and let his gaze wander to the numerous art books placed on the coffee table before picking up one; a translated copy of _Vincent van Gogh, 1853-1890._

However, his thoughts was cut short when Kira suddenly placed his left arm onto the book, and he blinked in puzzlement before the promise he did almost a week ago came to his mind.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, a blush appeared on his pale complexion as he laughed in embarrassment, "I'm sorry, Kira-san; I almost forgot about our deal."

The blond only brushed it with a wave of his right hand, "It's alright, I know you have a lot to think of."

(Which was true, actually.)

Kosaku took a deep breath as his left hand took two pairs of plaster shears and gave one to Kira. Before long, they began to work cutting off the cast, with the cats watched in interest by the window.

After an hour, the cast finally fell off.

Kira's entire left lower arm was now covered in swirling patterns of vines up until the hand part, which was only bones. Both men gazed at it, stunned with the sight.

"I'm...afraid your left hand will not be regenerated anymore, Kira-san," Kosaku broke the silence, eyes downcast in regret. He had marked the progress even before he had put on the cast, but he thought it was simply because of the **[Cleansers]**' strange nature: able to change a spirit into something plant-like with a touch.

The blond only blinked in puzzlement, trying to process such information. "Oh," he finally spoke, "I expected it much, actually."

Kosaku stared at Kira in utter disbelief.

(Just how was this man so calm in accepting his faith?)

"I mean, we don't actually know that the original arm had to do with this one's growth, right? So since the first one was now destroyed, it makes sense if my new arm stopped regenerating too. If anything, I must thank you for telling me about the determination technique to heal."

They shared an understanding look for a while when out of nowhere, Kira's right hand fell off with a snap, landing on the floor with a faint thud.

Both men froze in their places, horrified to see such sight with a bark suddenly entered the air. Frightened, Kosaku casted a second glance to Kira before pulling aside the curtains and looked outside; a dog was harassing a fellow **[Ghost]**, who cowered in fear with each bark. The owner, a teenage girl was trying to drag the animal away, not knowing the real situation.

"What...kind of dog was that?" Kira asked with heaved breath, his voice was shaking as he gaped at the now detached limb and not paying attention to his right arm where ghostly blood was trailing down his clothes.

Kosaku noticed the change of Kira's tone, and he didn't know if he really wanted to tell Kira the answer.

Then it clicked to him.

"A golden retriever."

Soon enough, an ear-splitting shriek came out of Yoshikage Kira.

Kosaku scooted back on the couch and could only watch as Kira clawed uselessly at his own face with his skeleton hand, the facial features slowly contorted into messy mushes of skin and flesh as his disguise of Kosaku Kawajiri reappeared in response of remembering his death back in July.

Moments before Kira fell into unconsciousness, Kosaku could see multiple emotions were reflected in the man's indigo eyes.

Realisation.

Torture.

Woe.

Regret.

Wide-eyed, Kosaku stared in terror of Kira's now bleeding form; the right side of his head was bashed in, exposing his skull and parts of his brain along with his cracked face had the skin ripped off. The crimson fluid had splattered on the painting easel and the floor, setting off a grim scene.

And Kosaku screamed.


	13. Breakdown, Breakdown

**title chapter says it all, what do you expect lmao also please check the version on AO3 cuz this fic was more updated there thank you for your attention**

There was a faint light ahead, over the vast ocean of darkness. A pale purple one, flashing hues of white and blue every now and then. Twinkling warmly, sending soothing vibes against the bleak place. What a lovely color. One could say he felt safe seeing the ethereal light, admiring it.

It reminded him of the sunset during late summers in his hometown, which were now simply memories lost in the sands of time.

That also had been his only anchor of hope as he suffered for eternity when his body parts exploded in huge showers of fire, leaving only his heart and head behind before reforming. The erupting pain as one's skin and flesh burn in such high heat was as new as it was in each cycle. The searing smell of his own charred flesh invaded his mind as long as he could remember ever since he was trapped in the void, lingering in the air even after his body was healed. But he knew he deserve the punishment. Accepting his fate to that endless torture had numbed him a bit, but it wasn't enough.

_"I'm sure it's somewhere you can never rest in peace,"_ a female voice spoke, replaying over and over in his mind. He knew that voice well; each word was full of venom as she sent him into this void.

_Reimi Sugimoto._

Upon a whimsical moment, a hand slowly stretched out toward the light, the only limb that was movable since the others were torn apart and held away from one another in vice-tight grips before the cycle renewed. The things that kept hold onto him had dragged him further inside the void, but where to? He could feel he was sinking, yet at the same time floating. Somewhere one could never rest even after their death? He couldn't imagine such absurd thought to be a reality, but here he was.

_Death was impossible for me in here as you said. Such thing as escaping this place must have been laughable to you too, doesn't it?_

However, the light stayed there unmoved. So close, yet so far.

_But… what would happen if I managed to get out? Will I die? There isn't much logic to this whole torment now, don't you think? Is there even a way out of here in the first place?__It sounds rather silly, but for once, I'm willing to hold onto this… hope. I'm not a man who initially believed in such petty thing like this. As strange as this was, hope keeps me alive for now. Then again, I doubt you will ever let me go even when I finally succumb to this torment. So… I will take as many more torture this horrible void offers. I am a patient man; take your time unleashing your wrath on me._

_That, and I just want to live._

_No._

_I just don't want to die._

_I don't want to die._

_I don't want to die._

**_"What do you want in life?"_** a voice reverberated through the dark void. Soft and deep. He couldn't locate where it came from but it sounded so far away, like someone was watching his horrible predicament from afar.

_To get out of this place, maybe,_ he humored the phantom with a tired sigh. _I don't want to die if that happens, though._

_I don't want to die._

_I don't want to die._

**_"What will you give me in return?"_** A bit louder, much clearer. He stirred his head around, trying to make note of the situation. Did the owner of the voice want to help him?

_I don't want to die._ The thought slowly became stronger, and just like the hope of escaping the everlasting cycle of explosion and regeneration, he held firmly onto it.

_I don't want to die._

_I don't want to die._

_I don't want to die._

_Just take whatever you want, I don't want to die._

**_"Anything?"_**

_I don't want to die._ The thought then began increasingly frantic over time, out of fear and trepidation. From what? He didn't know who the phantom was, but he was never going to look a gift horse in the mouth of the situation.

_I don't want to die._

_I don't want to die._

_I don't want to die._

_I don't want to die._

_JUST DO IT ALREADY, I JUST DON'T WANT TO DIE!_

A sharp moment of silence filled the void. His ragged breaths echoed around for a long time before he sighed and broke into cracked laughter full of bitterness. He must had imagined such scenario to happen. Yes, that seemed to be the most logical explanation to it. There's no way a person could venture into this place without risking their life, right?

**_"Very well then."_**

Suddenly, something grabbed hold inside of his head and his eyes widened. What was that?! One of those freakishly horrible hands that held him captive? A chill of absolute terror ran down his spine and he was petrified with horror, eyes simply staring at the purple light against the endless space of darkness.

An invisible force then began to pull away his figurative mind in an excruciatingly painful way and he could not contain his screams of agony, frozen in place. He could feel tears trickled down his visage but his expression changed to one full of fierce determination, hand still trying to reach out for the light.

His symbol of hope.

_I don't want to die._

_I don't want to die._

_I don't want to die._

_I don't want to die._

_I don't want to die._

_I don't want to die._

A snap echoed over his entire body, breaking all of his thoughts and his eyes were clouded in utter emptiness.

_Reimi._

Only then did the light start to fade away, finally swallowed by the eternal darkness.

**_"One luck has been used."_**

**_"Someone waits for you on the other side."_**

* * *

My name is Yoshikage Kira.

I was 33 years old when I died. On 16th July 1999 to be exact. I didn't think my death was the most pleasant, yet it was also the kindest even if a bit humiliating. To imagine I would die in that way was ridiculously hilarious. But accidents happen all the time now, don't they? I held no animosity toward the driver that led to my demise. If anything, he saved me from dying in the hands of…

I didn't want to talk about it.

I was not married, so my family, the Kiras that had lived in Morioh for generations had died out entirely by the time of my death. Extinct, one would say. Yet I had lived as a **[Ghost]** just like my father before I unknowingly killed him. I wondered if my ancestors too had become spirits to watch over each generation of the Kira family.

I had woken up about an hour ago with the sun casted its warm light inside the room from the window. I opted to simply sit on the bed however, now staring at both of my hands.

The left one was simply a limb made out of bones, showing the pearly white osseous matter that had swirling patterns of green vines on them, similar to my entire lower left arm. It was unmovable but I hadn't cared much of it, mainly because I had suspected I wouldn't get out unscathed from the mission back in October.

The sight of my right hand was what set me off.

Torn away by Reimi Sugimoto's dog, Arnold back before I was dragged away by the phantom hands in the alley, the wrist part was bandaged to the other end of my right arm. But it hadn't changed the fact that the fingers are broken by the time of my death and only twitched occasionally, so it was really a useless attempt to restore it.

For the injuries I got during my fight with those kids stayed permanently now that I had remembered who I was.

I stared at those hands of mine as long as I could before breaking into silent laughter full of bitterness, tears slowly trailed over my disfigured face and dropped onto them.

How the great had fallen. I didn't hold myself in such high regards even when I was a descendant of a samurai family. I just wanted to live a quiet, peaceful life; where no one would pester me with their infuriating antics. I took great care not to trouble myself with anyone like winning and losing, which would cause me to lose sleep at night. That was how I dealt with society, and I know that was what brought me happiness back when I was alive.

But it fell to ruins before my own eyes.

Sadness and anger clouded my mind that I couldn't even bring myself to summon**「Killer Queen」**.

Was it still around, though? It was shattered in the alley by those hands and perhaps it really had gone, swallowed by the void. It was for the best, after all. I didn't think I deserve to have it the second time around.

However, the ever familiar aura of light purple surrounded me and my eyes met its red ones as the feline **[Stand]** appeared opposite me.

Oh, my**「Killer Queen」**.

Its condition was the same as I was if not a bit worse; the right side of its face was cracked and the left part was smashed in along with its eye. The pink torso was riddled with injuries. The fingers of the right hand too were broken, and the skull emblem on its left hand from which I could deploy**「Sheer Heart Attack」**was now missing from the black gauntlet. There was an empty feeling in my chest about the sight but I shrugged it off. The automated bomb did its job well, despite it had been my first downfall. It wasn't its fault really.

What was I to do from now on, though? There must be something else to my entire existence in this world. The voice back in the void had told me someone was waiting for me, but who could that be? With my luck, perhaps this person would appear at any time soon.

(Even when fate had gone against me back then, I still held onto it. Why? Who knows. Perhaps there was a silver lining to all of this.)

The murderous side of me was screaming in my mind to take revenge on those goddamned kids for ruining my entire life to death and the more I thought of the plan, it was more tempting by the second and made much more sense. Restraint be damned, I had reached the limit of my patience and the familiar thrill of a hunt was starting to buzz over my head. All thanks to those kids.

A faint chuckle of amusement and delight escaped my mouth. Yes, I would seek my revenge onto them.**「Killer Queen」**'s right hand might be broken but with a bit of help from other **[Ghosts]**, I could set up some traps and they would finally disappear from this place! Good riddance! And only then would I rest in peace, knowing there will be no more obstacles along the way!

I stared back at**「Killer Queen」**with a deranged smile. "It's about time, don't you think?" I spoke with renewed vigor, excited to get better and began this whole idea.**「Killer Queen」**only blinked at me in curiosity and I patted the crown of its head, humming pleasingly as I felt the same sensation.

Now who should I start this plan to?

A dull thud pulled me out of my trance and my feline **[Stand]** immediately disappeared, startled with the sudden interruption. I bared my teeth furiously as I turned to the door; what the hell was cutting off my brilliant plan?!

Then my sight fell onto my right hand; especially the fingertips, to which my eyes now widened in utmost fear.

Kosaku Kawajiri.

The man I had killed in attempt to escape from those brats the first time around, and was now on his way of ascending the stairs with the crutch thudded as it hit the wooden surface, getting closer to the door by each passing second.

There was no time.

I quickly attempted to pull up the blanket to give the illusion that I still hadn't woke up, but just how was I supposed to do that when both my hands were immobile?! In the end I used my elbows along with**「Killer Queen」**'s help and as I lied onto the bed, I tried to keep myself composed by closing my eyes and taking deep breaths. I was quite a good actor and within a few minutes, my heartbeat slowed down considerably; just enough for me to stay alert of my surroundings when a meow came from the other side of the door.

"Shhh…" I heard Kosaku said, apparently had arrived in front of my room and I stayed still, listening intently as the doorknob was turned and the door creaked when it was swung open.

The light trotting on the wooden floor entered the air and I instantly knew it was Kiko by the sudden weight on my torso. I almost gave off my act when she kneaded my muscles with her paws for a while before sitting on it, meowing. I silently gulped in fear; she was pretty accurate in knowing whether I was awake or not.

Straining my ears, I listened to the deafening silence.

Just what was he doing? He was probably just standing there menacingly, scrutinizing me with his ever cold black eyes!

After a few minutes, Kosaku finally entered the room, judging by the sounds of his crutch. There was a chair beside my bed, and I could hear the screech against the floor as he sat down, placing the crutch aside and sighed. Kiko meowed again and my body tensed involuntarily when her claws dug deep into the blanket.

"It's alright," Kosaku spoke as if replying to her. His voice was slightly strained and a bit hoarse; what would be the cause?

I mentally shook my head upon the thought and focused on the current situation. Here was the man who was going to kill me as a form of revenge in any moment. But that was fair game. I had murdered him along with Aya Tsuji, so it was entirely plausible if he wanted to do the same to me.

There wasn't much regrets I had as of now. I had known who I was, so that goal was accomplished. Sure, I didn't get to kill that bastard Josuke Higashikata and his friends but it was alright. It was just... I felt sorry for the one that waited for me. Maybe it was just a stupid statement, or I had misheard it. No one would ever miss a murderer like me, not when the cat was out of the bag.

My thoughts drifted back to Kosaku all the while. Or more importantly, about his actions. What was his entire purpose of helping me back then? Was it just a ruse to put me into a false sense of security? Did he help me to regain my memories simply so that we were equals? Now what kind of man would ever do that?!

Stupid, stupid Kosaku Kawajiri. You should have killed me when you got the chance.

Which was now, it seemed. I was defenseless. Even if I summoned**「Killer Queen」**, it couldn't do much with its injured state. Setting off a bomb would be more difficult since both our hands were frozen in their broken condition. That, and **[Ghosts]** could definitely see **[Stands]**, so it was ruled out.

For once, I felt nothing but acceptance in the face of death.

A rustling movement alerted me and I caught the familiar snapping sound of something opened. The first-aid kit. I frowned internally; there was no need for that. The injuries that appeared on **[Ghosts]** would only bleed when they remembered how they died. So unless they were **[Ghost Wounds]**, they simply became marks left on the body after being cleaned.

Just like the stab wounds I had inflicted onto Reimi Sugimoto's back.

It was now 16 years since I killed her. Time really flew away, didn't it?

Once again, I heard the chair screech as Kosaku shifted his position and braced myself for the inevitable sharp rush of pain to my heart. That had been the only fatal wound for us spirits, and I was content to know it beforehand by the man himself.

However, nothing happened for the next few minutes.

I struggled to keep my breathing in a normal pace as time ticked away. Was he trying to mess up with me? He had pretty good sight and intuition, if his skills with the gun were to go with. Maybe that Hayato had inherited the traits since he could somewhat see the near-invisible air bubbles of Stray Cat's.

I should just get this over with. Tell straight to Kosaku that it was definitely fine to kill me, and we both would be happy. He could finally go to **[Heaven]** as any other spirits did. As for me... Well, the Kira family would die for real this time. The house I had lived for my life would be sold off to someone else, and as much as I hated anyone to ever venture into my home, it was reality.

But before I could do that, something touched the right side of my face. Stunned, I took a deep breath and kept still, my mind was wondering on how he would kill me. There were lots of ways to do that, but the only method I could think of was that Kosaku would attack me in surprise, possibly already having a knife in hand. He probably only waited for me to wake up now, just like how a cat lurked in the shadows for its prey to appear.

I could accept that. It was what I did to him after all.

Turning to my right, I slowly opened my eyes, to which I then found myself with such a jarring sight to the point where I thought I was in a dream instead of waking up.

There was no knife in Kosaku's right hand.

He was holding a piece of wet cloth instead. His left hand was lightly scratching my scalp and both of us froze when we finally made eye contact. I casted a fleeting glance at Kiko, but she was now sleeping with her tail twitched occasionally.

"You're awake," Kosaku remarked after a while. There was no malice in his voice.

I searched for any telltales of his anger like reddened eyes or flared nostrils or even clenched fists. But I was only met with his ever soft expression, his black eyes were twinkling.

It was as if he was happy to see me awake. But just who in the right mind would be elated to see their murderer recovered?! Take Reimi for example; she had banished me to the dark void of eternal suffering by those hands. Revenge was pretty normal, so why would this man act like there was nothing between us?

(If there were any last words I would ever tell him, it was of, "You are a foolish man, Kosaku Kawajiri.")

Yet, I said nothing as he placed the wet cloth on my forehead, watching with a child's curiosity of his actions.

"It had been two days, if you want to know," the raven-haired told me while smoothing the cloth. I blinked; that was quite short for a recovering time. Still, no words were exchanged until he took his crutch and stood up again.

"Just shout if you need anything," he said with his back facing me before going out of the room, leaving the door opened. As soon as the noise disappeared, I stared at the ceiling and unconsciously summoned**「Killer Queen」**, who simply gazed at Kiko's sleeping form.

My mind was full of befuddled thoughts about the earlier conversation. Why?

Why? Why? Why?

Why didn't he kill me?!

* * *

Kosaku came back that evening, this time with Stray Cat and a small mirror.

We still didn't talk, though. He only unraveled the bandage on my right hand, which revealed the stitches on it, giving me the mirror and placed Stray Cat's plant pot on the desk beside my bed before sauntering off somewhere.

Kiko was now beside me, purring affectionately as I stroked her body with my skeleton hand. At least I wouldn't get tired of doing this for a long interval of time.

(I had felt it on my face, and the cold, rough texture of it was somewhat strange yet comforting. Maybe because I had lots of experience with it by my moments with the severed hands.)

I had bitten off some of my fingernails a while ago, which then grew to their condition before I died. As I examined my face with the mirror on my lap, I realized he had bandaged the entire left part, only exposing my shattered eye. My hair was in its original light blond color, with the additional few strands of black and white. My jaw also hurt slightly when I tried to move it, though that was expected.

The punches I got from that Josuke Higashikata's**「Crazy Diamond」**and Jotaro Kujo's**「Star Platinum」**had me in a literal broken state. With two heart-shaped glasses embedded on my back side, it was as if the whole left side of my body was full of splintered bones.

My gaze wandered to Stray Cat's curling form in its plant pot and I thought of whatever ideas Kosaku had in mind for me. From what I had gathered of him during my masquerade and spending time with him when I was amnesiac, he didn't seem to be the person who had something important; perhaps his family but nothing more than that. If anything, he was as anonymous as one could be, just what I wished for a life.

However, he also caught my attention with the few moments of bravery he had. He was afraid of blood and possibly was scarred for life of my bleeding form, yet he had nursed my wounds (now and then) and sewed up Kiko's abdomen. He wasn't one who wanted to do close-range confrontation with danger, but he had held his ground when he fought against the spirits' killer and even injured him.

"Kira-san." The ever soft voice of Kosaku entered my ear and I turned to him, seeing the man stood at the door of my room with an expressionless look. He was probably here just to say good night.

But, could this be my chance of having a talk with him? I didn't wish to bother him, however this gnawing sensation of wanting to know was eating at my mind and it would lead me to have a restless sleep later on. Better now than never; wasn't that how the saying goes?

"I…" This was so unlike me, I hadn't ever stuttered in my speech. Was I afraid of breaking the silence and the new bond of monotony between us? It could be that. What if he just said nothing and this cycle went on? I could go back to my family home if he dismissed me, but it wasn't a **[Ghost House]** and I really didn't want to deal with those annoying exorcists who thought they could drive a spirit away by muttering useless spells and incantations.

It seemed however, that Kosaku had read ahead of my intentions and hobbled into the room, the crutch thudded with each step. I lowered my eyes to his left leg and was surprised that he had fully placed the foot onto the ground. Had he practiced walking when I was still unconscious? Didn't the gunshot wound hurt him anymore? There were so many questions I wanted to ask him, and now was the time.

Kosaku finally sat on the chair, placing the item aside. He only stared at his feet though, and beginning to twiddle his thumbs.

"You can ask," he spoke after taking a deep breath, still not meeting my eyes.

"Why didn't you kill me?" was my first question. It was what I had in mind the most at the moment.

His body stiffened a bit upon hearing it. He blinked several times before a light chuckle escaped his mouth, "You know what I do for now, Kira-san."

Of course I did. He helped other **[Ghosts]** to cover away their cause of deaths. And if I were correct, perhaps Aoki-san had to do with it.

"What if you're not bound to that… code of physicians? We're more than just a patient and a doctor. Would you still do the same?"

"The Hippocratic Oath," Kosaku corrected me on a whim, "And… yes, I suppose."

I blinked in utmost confusion. So he really didn't want to kill me? He had the chance but he didn't take it. He could use his hands to do any form of punishment to me, yet he used them to treat me.

(You're a fool, Kosaku Kawajiri, for letting me live.)

"Why did you help me back in September?"

"I didn't know it was you." Just like how I didn't know it was him back then. "When you told me your name, all I ever thought of was that I want to repay your kindness."

Wait a minute, hold that thought. Kindness? What the heck were you talking about, Kawajiri? I killed you on the street for my own life and had killed your son in cold blood. (That was before I gained Bites the Dust.) Then I proceeded to put him into a Groundhog Day-torture of dying and explosion all because I didn't want anyone to know my disguise. If that was your definition of kindness, I guessed you really were sick in mind.

"You… saved Shinobu back then," the raven-haired went on, not noticing my agitated expression, "I… I don't think I would stand a chance against Stray Cat if I were in your place."

Both of us went to look at the cat-plant hybrid that was snoozing in its plant pot. That event also brought back the memory of something strange stirred inside me as the scenes where I held Kosaku's wife away from the attack flashed in my head. Was I relieved that she wasn't injured a lot? Yes. The lesser the better. I didn't want that Jotaro Kujo to find out my hiding place, not after I had barely escaped from him.

Should I tell Kosaku about it, though? Maybe… someday later, when I felt it was the right moment to tell him the truth. Not that he seemed to mind much about it.

"Was there any reason for you to nurse me right now?" I asked him, the weight in my heart lifted slightly. If this was how the whole session turned out, then it wouldn't be long before we reconciled for real. As I said, I didn't wish to have enemies or being one to others.

At that question however, Kosaku was wide-eyed and his hands were clasped together, shaking. Confounded with the sudden act, I could only wait patiently for his answer. Were his words worth my time? So far it had been. Yet he was afraid at the moment. Of what? Was he scared of me? Or rather, my response of what he would say later on?

But then I could hear some quiet sobbing from the man and I was befuddled even more of the situation. Now why would you be the one to cry, Kawajiri? Shouldn't I do that instead, since you spared my life?

(Just what the heck was going on right now?!)

"An apology," he finally choked out with tears began to stain his face, "for not helping you back then."

My eyes widened and I froze in realization of what he meant, those words were ringing in my mind.

That's right.

I knew nothing of Kosaku Kawajiri. Of his demeanor, of his likes and dislikes or about his life in general. Until I had taken his place since he had the same build as mine.

I had been doing rather well in his household. Apart from the attempts Shinobu Kawajiri did to respark the relationship between her and 'Kosaku', there wasn't much suspicion in the air. It was that Hayato who had found out who I was. And what had been the cause of it all?

Shiitake mushrooms.

Kosaku Kawajiri hated those. And how was I supposed to know that in the first place? He was dead along with Aya Tsuji in the latter's beauty salon.

But he was still here, as a **[Ghost]**.

_If only..._

_If only..._

**_If only..._**

Anger bubbled from the depths of my heart and I started to see red, the fingers of my right hand twitched slightly upon the turmoil of emotions.

If only you stopped being a coward for once in your pathetic life, Kosaku Kawajiri. If only you had braved yourself to show up in front of me and tell me what was your life about, then this whole mess wouldn't happen. I would tread carefully along the lines, following each of your words so that my disguise would be even more perfect. I could use the help of another **[Ghost]** other than my father during my fight with that bastard Josuke and his group of friends, including Jotaro Kujo.

I could have still be alive.

The thought echoed in my head, repeating over and over like a broken record.

_I could have still be alive._

_I could have still be alive._

My eyes fell onto the cowering form of the man who began this whole chain of misfortune toward me. Right, Kosaku Kawajiri was an embodiment of a loser. His wife didn't love him, same had went to his son. He was bullied in his workplace. Nothing worthwhile was there for him in this world.

Pathetic. Just the current sight of him made my blood boil.

My murderous intents were causing goosebumps of excitement on my skin; it had been so long since my last kill after all. The thought of beating the lights out of him was getting tempting by the second, just like I once did to that Koichi Hirose. Oh, how I would love to do that. Snapping away his limbs, breaking all parts of his body. Twisting every joint and crushing those muscles of his.

Take a knife and stab him repeatedly with a finishing touch to the heart.

There was nothing else in my mind as of now. Only to kill, only to satisfy myself with the sight of fresh blood and do it again and again, enjoying the symphonic cries of pain and torture all the while.

Just like how I killed Reimi Sugimoto and her family.

Yet, Kosaku stayed in his place with his head hung low, exposing the back of his neck. I would like to wrap my hands around it (though it was impossible now) and choke him, hearing the struggles he did to keep his heart beating. Wasn't he afraid of the prospect to be murdered by his patient? (It thrilled me more than I could ever think.)

"You know you did more than just not helping me to deal with your life," I muttered each word in such venom of hatred, anger and grief.

"I killed you," the raven-haired admitted with a sob. "You saved Shinobu, but I had you killed."

"You sure did, Kosaku Kawajiri. Mind if I return the gesture?"

The man was silent for a few moments before he finally said, "By all means."

I got up from my bed and walked to his right side, calling forth my**「Killer Queen」**. Its red eyes trailed over the exposed neck and it glanced at me as if to ask for confirmation to do what I had in mind.

To cut off his head. It was fitting, don't you think?

As my **[Stand]** raised its left hand into the air, ready to chop the man's head, a thought suddenly came to me.

Had it really been Kosaku's fault?

Why, sure it was. He didn't come up to me to tell about his life (especially his dislike of shiitake mushrooms) and it was among the first things that eventually turned my stay in the Kawajiri household into crumbles.

But...

...that wasn't the case now, didn't it?

**[Ghosts]** couldn't enter places without the owner's permission. And even though spirits could talk to humans, it would be weird if you heard a voice but not seeing the speaker. Kosaku was also **[Bounded]** to Morioh, so he couldn't follow me to his workplace in S City.

It was also the matter of curiosity.

Hah.

That's right.

Curiosity killed the cat. And that cat was me.

I was suspicious of Hayato's actions on the morning of 16th July, so I had followed him with his school hat in hand. Seeing the boy's snivelling form as he tried to stop Bites the Dust's cycle by killing me with Stray Cat was something I had never expected.

But that was Hayato Kawajiri for you. Who knows what would the father, Kosaku do to me? Would he pull the same trick as his son did? Or maybe he had planned something beforehand?

I looked around the room in intense paranoia, searching for any possible hidden items that could serve as part of his traps. When I turned back to Kosaku however, the man had a weak smile in his face.

"I am not Hayato, Kira-san," he said. "There's nothing you should worry about."

His black eyes shone the light of honesty among the tears.

Stunned and intrigued by his statement, I ordered**「Killer Queen」**to lower its hand before casting it away for the time being and I sat back on the bed, staring at the man opposite me.

Just what kind of man are you, Kosaku Kawajiri?

"What do you want in life?" I asked him. The same question as the voice did to me back in the void.

Kosaku hesitated to answer it, as seen by his clasped hands. His eyes flickered to the cats before meeting mine, showing the wet trails of tears down his visage.

"To love," he uttered, a faint blush colored his pale complexion.

Love.

Of course.

It was what I first learnt of the Kawajiri family; there was none.

My own family however, had lots of it. Both my parents cherished each moment they could be with me that there were multiple photo albums filled with my pictures alone. They had helped me during my early years of killing people, not even thinking of turning me to the police for said crime. (Though I had suspected they didn't do that as to keep the appearance of the noble Kira family.) And by the night before their passing, we had slept together with holding hands.

One time I had asked the ghost of my father on why he had stayed with me instead of leaving to **[Heaven]**, to which he answered in his wrinkled smile, _"My only happiness is you, Yoshikage. I couldn't think of a happier moment than to be at your side. If even after death you want to stay on Earth, then I will do the same."_

(I didn't tell him how touched was I by those words.)

(All more the reason for me to seek revenge to that Josuke Higashikata. I didn't actually like my father's overprotectiveness of me, but it was expected, didn't it? Any parent would do that to their child, only showing that trait in varying degrees. And since my parents had me after passing their prime, it made much sense of them to coddle me.)

So I listened intently as Kosaku went on talking about wanting to show his love to Shinobu, because in all honesty, I respected the attempt. It reminded me of my father, and the anger I felt for the man was slightly subdued due to it.

"I... I hope you can help me with it, Kira-san. But if you cannot, then it's alright," Kosaku finished and turned away to wipe his tears.

"What about Hayato?" I queried in puzzlement since he hadn't ever mentioned the boy in his plan. Not that I wanted to deal with him again, considering he had been the key to my death.

At that however, the man's eyes narrowed and I was taken aback with the sudden shift of expression in his face.

"There was no need for that," he muttered darkly, which only raised my confusion. "But... What kind of father that hates his own son? No matter how you look at it, he was just a child who still believes in justice, not knowing people will do anything, even involving in illegal ways, to reach happiness."

(That much was true, unfortunately.)

After taking a while mulling over it, I made the decision to help Kosaku in reaching his goal. For one, I was satisfied that he really wanted to change his life even if it was just for love. But love made fool of us all, didn't it? Just like the _Mona Lisa_ to me.

(It was also a nicer form of punishment I had received. Besides, I really didn't want to die.)

The man blinked in utmost disbelief upon hearing me before we broke into laughter full of joy, happy that we could put aside the horrible connection between us for now.

As I hugged Kosaku, I stared at my disfigured hands and my mouth lifted to a wry smile.

Perhaps, with a bit of help, an elephant could still live even after it lost its nose.


End file.
